Current Affairs for SSC CGL Exams - 05 April 2017

:: National ::

Union govt says Dalai lama’s visit is only religious

As China stepped up its protest against the Dalai Lama’s visit to Arunachal Pradesh, the Union government fielded Minister of State for Home KirenRijiju to make India’s stand clear.
Mr. Rijiju saidthat the visit of the Tibetan spiritual leader was “purely religious” and “China shouldn’t interfere in India’s internal matters.”
China has objected to the Dalai Lama’s visit because Beijing considers Arunachal Pradesh its territory and has referred to the Dalai Lama as “separatist leader.”
The Dalai Lama is on a week-long tour of Arunachal Pradesh, where he will hold religious discourses in Tawang, Bomdila and other areas.
He will also consecrate a gompa (Buddhist place of learning) at Nafra, Mr. Rijiju’s native village.
The Ministry of External Affairs has said the Dalai Lama has visited the State on six earlier occasions, from 1983 to 2009, and “no artificial controversy should be created over his present visit.”
The government has said on several occasions that the Dalai Lama is respected as a religious leader by the Indian people.
He said he had accompanied the Dalai Lama during his visit to the State in 2009, and then too, China protested vociferously.

Uttar Pradesh govt waived off loan worth rupees 31 thousand crores

Taking a major step towards fulfilling its poll promises, the Yogi Adityanath government in Uttar Pradesh on Tuesday announced the waiver of farm loans worth Rs. 30, 729 crore. Loans up to Rs. 1 lakh will be waived.
The government will also write off loans of around Rs. 6,000 crore given to seven lakh small and marginalised farmers which have turned into non-performing assets.
The double decision will benefit over 86 lakh small and marginalised farmers in the State who took loans until March 31, 2016. The total cost to the State exchequer would amount to Rs. 36,000 crore.
The decisions were passed in the first cabinet meeting called by the Chief Minister after he assumed office two weeks ago.
The decisions are expected to be passed in the Budget Session. Mr Singh described the first cabinet meeting as the “beginning of the Sankalp Patr agenda implementation.”
The government also said all farmers having up to five acres of land will be counted as small farmers while those with 2.5 acres will be categorized as marginalised farmers.
The State will also set up 5,000 centres for wheat procurement and will start purchasing 40 lakh metric tonnes of wheat at Rs. 10 more than the minimum support price per quintal.
The government will directly purchase the wheat on the basis of their Aadhaar cards without the involvement of middlemen.

India rules out third party interference in Indo-Pak relations

U.S. President Donald Trump might take a proactive interest in de-escalating tensions between India and Pakistan, U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Nikki Haley has said.
“It’s absolutely right that this administration is concerned about the relationship between India and Pakistan and very much wants to see how we de-escalate any sort of conflict going forward,” she said in response to a question.
In response, External Affairs Ministry said, “Government’s position for bilateral redressal of all India-Pakistan issues in an environment free of terror and violence hasn’t changed.
We, of course, expect international community and organisations to enforce international mechanisms and mandates concerning terrorism emanating from Pakistan.”
India has always rejected third party intervention in India-Pakistan relations, but U.S. has been a constant factor between the countries.
The U.S. pushes India to continue peace talks with Pakistan while it pushes Pakistan to take more effective measures against terrorism.
Concerns of nuclear terrorism added a new dimension to the American interest in India-Pakistan conflict in recent years.
Mr. Trump has offered to mediate between the two countries if both wanted, which is closer to the existing U.S. position. Mike Pence was more upfront while he was Vice President-elect in December.
Any reversal of the existing U.S. policy of non-interference will be counterproductive, said Aparna Pande, Director, Initiative on the Future of India and South Asia at Hudson Institute in Washington.

Indian youth is becoming modern in appearance but less modern in their thoughts

Indian youth are certainly becoming more modern in their appearance and consumption habits, “but their thoughts and views reflect a troubling inclination towards intolerance and conservatism”, says a national survey.
The survey, jointly conducted by the Centre for the Study of Developing Societies, Konrad Adenauer Stiftung and Lokniti, covered 6,122 respondents in the age group of 15-34. It was carried out in April-May 2016 in 19 States.
Among the respondents, 49% were in favour of the death penalty, while only 33% felt that it should be abolished.
An overwhelming 60%, cutting across religions, believed that films which hurt religious sentiments should be banned, with only 23% opposed to such bans.
On the lately contentious subject of beef consumption, 46% disagreed with the liberal sentiment that “consumption of beef is part of personal eating habits and nobody should have an objection”, while only 36% agreed with it.
However, 40% of non-vegetarian Hindu youth and 90% of Left supporters had no problem with beef consumption.
At the same time, the survey also found the majority of Indian youth (58%) to be non-vegetarian, while 30% and 9% described themselves as pure vegetarians and “eggitarians” respectively.
The illiberal orientation was further underscored in the domain of interpersonal relations, with 67% of the youth opposed to live-in relationships.
On the question of inter-religious marriages, 45% were opposed to them, while only 28% were in support. The majority of the respondents (51%) agreed with the proposition that “wives should always listen to their husbands”.
While acceptance for the idea of inter-caste marriage had risen, from 31% in 2007 to 55% in 2016, the reported incidence of inter-caste marriages among respondents was only 4%.
Over 84% of the married youth had had an arranged marriage, compared to the 6% that reported a love marriage.
While one-third of those with a love marriage had married outside their caste, 97% of arranged marriages were found to be within caste.
Arranged marriage was also the preference among the unmarried, with 50% saying they would like their parents to take the decision regarding their life partner. Only 12% expressed a preference for love marriage.
The survey also found Indian youth to be quite religious, with 78% of the respondents stating that they prayed often, while 68% reported going to a place of religious worship frequently.

:: International ::

Trump administration to enforce laws related to H-1B programme

U.S. administration will enforce the laws related to the H-1B visa programme that went unenforced until now, the White House said even as the Justice Department warned companies against using the programme to displace American workers.
As this year’s application process for H-1B visas began, USCIS announced a slew of measures to crack down on companies that might be misusing the programme, including more stringent checks at sites where H-1B workers are employed.
“The H-1B visa programme should help U.S. companies recruit highly-skilled foreign nationals when there is a shortage of qualified workers in the country.
Yet, too many American workers who are as qualified, willing, and deserving to work in these fields have been ignored or unfairly disadvantaged.
Protecting American workers by combating fraud in our employment-based immigration programmes is a priority for the USCIS,” the agency said in a statement.
The USCIS, the agency responsible for selecting the 85,000 H-IB beneficiaries, also clarified, purportedly for administrative reasons, that computer programmers with two-year degrees do not qualify for speciality occupation as defined by the programme.
In a third statement from the administration on Monday, the Justice Department said it would not tolerate employers misusing the H-1B visa process to discriminate against U.S. workers.

:: Business and Economy ::

India says it will deepen ties with U.K.

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and U.K. Chancellor discussed the post-Brexit scenario and issued a statement reiterating the two countries’ commitment to strengthen economic cooperation and collaborate on cross-border tax evasion and avoidance.
The two Finance Ministers also welcomed the National Highways Authority of India’s proposal to issue a masala bond in London in the next few months.
They also welcomed IREDA’s plans to issue a green bond in London and list their masala bonds on the London Stock Exchange within six months.
This follows the successful issuances by HDFC (Rs. 3,000 crore or £366 million) and NTPC (Rs. 2,000 crore or £244 million), which were the first ever masala bonds to be issued by Indian entities.
The two countries agreed to work together swiftly to encourage sustainable bilateral investment that benefits both countries, including through the Joint Working Group.
They also welcomed the recent introduction of a fast-track investment promotion mechanism, which provides a single window for U.K. companies that are looking to either establish or expand their business in India.
The two ministers said they encourage the timely implementation of the G20/OECD Base Erosion and Profit Shifting Project outputs and called on other nations to meet their commitments.
The exchange of information between the U.K. and India under the Common Reporting Standards on Automatic Exchange of Tax Information will begin this calendar year.

Gross tax collections grew about 18% in 2016-17

Gross tax collections grew about 18% in 2016-17 to Rs. 17.1 lakh crore, surpassing the Centre’s revised estimates of Rs. 16.97 lakh crore for the year, as per provisional figures released.
Net direct tax collections grew by 14.2% in the year, bringing in Rs. 8.47 lakh crore for the exchequer, while net indirect tax collections grew 22% at Rs. 8.63 lakh crore.
While the direct tax kitty was in line with the revised estimates for 2016-17, net indirect tax collections exceeded the revised estimates.
Within direct taxes, corporate income tax collections grew 13.1% and personal income tax increased 18.4%. However, after taking into account refunds, the growth rates were 6.7% and 21%, respectively.
The provisional figures for direct tax collections up to March 2017 show that net collections are at Rs. 8.47 lakh crore which is 14.2% more than the net collections for the corresponding period last year.
which is a major increase compared to the growth rate of the previous financial year.
Net direct tax collections stand at Rs. 8.47 lakh crore which shows 100% achievement for financial year 2016-17.
Refunds amounting to Rs. 1.62 lakh crore have been issued during April 2016-March 2017, which is 32.6% higher than the refunds issued during FY 2015-16,” the statement added.

Nasscom believes changes in H-1B visa will not have much Impact on Indians

The country’s premier software lobby, Nasscom, on Tuesday said the new policy memo on H-1B visas by the U.S. “should have little impact” on its member companies.
Nasscom said, “The H-1B visa system exists specifically because of the persistent shortage of highly-skilled domestic IT talent in the U.S.,” and its members will continue to provide skilled talent and solutions to fill that gap and keep U.S. companies competitive globally.
It added that the additional evidence showing that the jobs themselves are complex or specialised and require professional degrees mentioned by the memo has been the de-facto requirement for years.
According to December 2015 projections by the U.S. Labour Department, employment of computer and information technology occupations will grow 12% from 2014 to 2024 (faster than the average for all other occupations).
However, due to shortfalls in college graduates in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM), entering the STEM workforce, there could be 2.4 million unfilled STEM jobs in the U.S. by 2018.
With more than half of these vacancies in computer and IT-related skills. More than 60% of the Indian IT industry’s $108-billion export revenue comes from the U.S.
In the medium-term to longer-term though the impact of this will be significantly reduced through higher recruitment in the overseas subsidiaries of the Indian IT companies.
Most of them have already initiated steps for overseas recruitment drives with higher prices being charged to their clients.