Current Affairs for SSC CGL Exams - 05 January 2017

:: National ::

Justice Khehar sworn in 44th CJI

Justice Jagdish Singh Khehar, the seniormost judge of the Supreme Court, was sworn in as the 44th Chief Justice of India by President Pranab Mukherjee.
Justice Khehar will have a tenure for over seven months till August 28, 2017. He assumed office as a judge of the Supreme Court on September 13, 2011.
On his first day in office, Justice Khehar presided over courtroom one with Justices N.V. Ramana and D.Y. Chandrachud flanking him.
Justice Khehar is known for his firm and decisive approach to cases.
His appointment comes at a time when the relationship between the government and the judiciary remains tense over an unprecedented number of judicial vacancies (400) in the HCs and eight in the SC.

A new hurdle has come in the way of the Ken-Betwa river interlink project

A new hurdle has come in the way of the marquee Ken-Betwa river interlink project in its terms of financing.
The NITI Aayog has recommended that Madhya Pradesh contribute 40 per cent of the project cost, with the Centre contributing 60 per cent.
The Ministry of Water Resources (MoWR) has opposed this and requested that 90 per cent of the funds be routed through the Centre.
A lack of clarity on the funding pattern could mean more delays to the Rs. 10,000-crore project that would be the first ever inter-State river interlinking project.
The project was given a go-ahead by the National Board for Wildlife (NBWL) at a meeting chaired by Minister of State for Environment and Forests, Anil Madhav Dave, last August.
A separate committee that determines forest clearance to such projects, is yet to take a call.
This will be the first time that a river project will be located within a tiger reserve.
The Rs. 10,000-crore Ken-Betwa project will irrigate the drought-prone Bundelkhand region but, also submerge about 10 per cent of the Panna Tiger Reserve in Madhya Pradesh, feted as a model tiger conservation reserve.
The main feature of the project is a 230-km long canal and a series of barrages and dams connecting the Ken and Betwa rivers that will irrigate 3.5 lakh hectares in Madhya Pradesh and 14,000 hectares of Uttar Pradesh in Bundelkhand.

Consensus on the critical issue of dual control still missing in GST

The eighth meeting of the GST Council failed yet again to reach a consensus on the critical issue of dual control, a major roadblock in the finalisation of the draft GST laws.
Mr. Jaitley, briefing reporters on the two-day meeting, said he expected both direct and indirect tax collections at the end of the year to exceed the budget estimates.
After the first day of the meeting, several State Finance Ministers said the April 1 deadline for the rollout of GST looked unlikely, with the likelihood of a July or September rollout increasing.
“The gaps refer to two broad areas. The first is the definition of the word ‘territory’, and the second has to do with the issue of dual control and cross empowerment.
“The territory issue is a complex one. The area of 12 nautical miles from the India coast is Indian territory,” he explained.
Service tax in this area has been levied by the Government of India. But fishing in these areas has been taxed by the States.
One other issue raised by the States was the compensation, and how this amount should be increased due to the hit to State revenues caused by the demonetisation of high value currency notes.
The Union Finance Minister also held a pre-Budget consultative meeting with the State Finance Ministers following the GST Council meeting.

Election commission gave suggestion to improve elections

In a bid to check money power from influencing elections, the Election Commission (EC) suggests bringing under its scanner the sources of income of not only candidates but also their family members.
The EC said the Representation of the People Act should be amended so that disqualification for entering into government contracts should not be limited to just the candidates but also companies, trusts, firms, Hindu Undivided Family.
The panel said the changes recommended in the law were meant as an antidote to “maladies caused by criminal antecedents of candidates and misuse of money”.

:: India and World ::

India said China following double standards against terrorism

India said that China is following “double standard” on terrorism and asked Beijing to support its campaign to blacklist Pakistan-based terror mastermind Masood Azhar.
Minister of State for External Affairs M.J. Akbar said China’s block at the 1267 committee of the UN Security Council that prevented India from blacklisting the terror boss was “self-defeating”.
Mr. Akbar said, “as a responsible and mature nation, China will understand the double standards of this self-defeating purpose,”.
Govt acknowledged that despite tranquillity on India-China border, there remained “divergences” in bilateral ties, including China’s stand on Pakistan-based terror outfits such as Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM).
India, however, was not in favour of stalling dialogue with Pakistan on the need to stop cross-border terrorism as it had delivered the necessary message to Pakistan and the world, with the surgical strike of September 28, Mr. Akbar said.
Mr. Singh also highlighted that the surgical strike of September 28, ten days after the Uri attack, had delivered the expected results.
“The aim of the surgical strike was — we have sent a message to the whole world that terrorism will not be acceptable as the new normal,” said Mr. Singh.

:: Business and Economy ::

TRAI issued a consultation paper on the issue of net-neutrality

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India issued a consultation paper on the issue of net-neutrality as it looked to formulate “final views on policy or regulatory interventions” on the subject.
The regulator, given the complexity of the subject, had decided to undertake a two-stage consultation process.
The earlier issued pre-consultation, released in May 2016, was an attempt to identify the relevant issues in all the areas on which the Department of Telecom had sought TRAI’s recommendations.
The purpose of this second stage of consultation is to proceed towards the formulation of final views on policy or regulatory interventions, where required, on the subject of net neutrality.
The last date for public comments on the paper is February 15 and for counter comments is February 28.
TRAI has sought comments on what principles for ensuring non-discriminatory access to content on the Internet could be in the Indian context.
Also as to how Internet traffic and providers of Internet services should be understood in the context of net neutrality.
It has also raised the issue of traffic management practices, seeking comments on approaches that would be preferable, defining what constitutes reasonable traffic management practices.

More Banks cut lending rates

HDFC Bank, the second largest private sector lender of the country, has decided to reduce its marginal cost of funds-based lending rate (MCLR) by 75 to 90 bps across various loan tenures.
Accordingly, its one-year MCLR rate will be 8.15 per cent as compared with 8.9 per cent while its six-month MCLR will be 8 per cent as against 8.85 per cent earlier.
The new rates come into effect from January 7. Public sector lender Canara Bank has also reduced its MCLR by about 70 basis points and its one-year MCLR stands at 8.45 per cent.

Services sector contracted for the second consecutive month

Reeling under the cash crunch, the services sector contracted for the second consecutive month in December as the demonetisation move took a heavy toll on business activities.
It also led to the sharpest fall in more than three years in new orders, a monthly survey showed.
The Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) survey further showed that the business confidence slumped to the third-lowest level in its 11-year history, while suggesting that any imminent recovery was unlikely from the demonetisation-triggered downturn.
The Nikkei India Services PMI, which tracks the services sector companies on a monthly basis, stood at 46.8 in December, largely unchanged from November’s 46.7 reading.
A reading below 50 denotes contraction. The index had slipped into the contraction territory in November.