Current Affairs for SSC CGL Exams - 05 November 2016

:: National ::

GST Council inconclusive regarding issue of authority to assess tax

The fourth round of meetings of the GST Council was inconclusive regarding the key issue of how to divide the authority to assess tax between the Centre and the States, although differences were narrowed down.
The next GST Council meeting has been postponed from November 9-10 to November 24-25, Mr. Jaitley said, adding that the Ministers will meet for an informal session on November 20 to discuss the tax assessment issue further.
The Finance Minister said that the preparation of the drafts of the Central GST, State GST, Inter-state GST, and Compensation Law will be completed by November 14-15.
The draft laws will then be sent to the States, which will have one week to respond with any recommendations. The Finance Minister added that the Council has narrowed down its options.
One option is to divide assessees horizontally, where those with a turnover of less than Rs. 1.5 crore a year will be assessed by the States and those with more than that will be shared by the States and the Centre.

Amnesty International condemned destruction of schools in J&K

Even as rights body Amnesty International condemned the burning of schools in the Valley, three more educational institutions were set on fire by unidentified persons.
Government decided to hold the annual examinations of Classes 10 and 12 this month itself.
“Schools should be safe spaces under all circumstances. The vicious arson attacks on schools end up denying children their right to education. This disturbing trend must stop. The government should bring to justice those responsible,” said Amnesty.
It also asked the government “to shift some of examination centres away from schools occupied by security forces.”
Since July 8, when militant commander BurhanWani was killed, 27 schools have been torched by miscreants. Militants, separatists, political parties and civil society groups have condemned these acts.

IUCN team to do field assessment of the Bhitarkanika park

A two-member technical evaluation mission team of International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), deputed by UNESCO, visited the Bhitarkanika National Park.
The visit is to perform field assessment of the unique mangrove ecosystem of the park, which figured on the tentative list of future heritage sites of UNESCO in 2009 and made its way to the final list in 2014.
The national park presently figures in the listed of protected wetlands under the Ramsar Convention.
The Odisha government had submitted a dossier, compiled by Dehradun-based Wildlife Institute of India, recommending to UNESCO that the park be declared a World Heritage Site.
In 1984, UNESCO had declared the Sun Temple at Konark in Odisha as a World Heritage Site. Local economy would receive a boost if the park was declared a heritage site.
The team interacted with local residents living on the fringes of the forest area. The team plans to tour the core area of the national park and the surrounding water bodies.
Wheelers’ Island and the Gahirmatha marine sanctuary are also on the itinerary.The biodiversity, ecosystem and local human habitation and socio-economic condition of locals and their dependence on forest produce will be assessed.
Bhitarkanika is a unique ecosystem, highly dynamic and at the same time fragile. The delta, the river mouth, the sea, mangrove forest, avian fauna, reptiles, amphibians and fauna and flora contribute to the park’s biological diversity.
In 1974, the Ministry of Forests, in collaboration with UNDP, had started a crocodile hatchery project at Dangmal in the park.
The crocodile population in the park has increased from 96 in 1974 to 1,665 this January.

NGT questions government over pollution

“The air pollution that the city [New Delhi] is facing is unfair to its people. What future are we giving to our children,” asked the National Green Tribunal (NGT) on Friday while castigating the Centre and the AAP government.
NGT also government for “shifting blame” and not taking steps to tackle the alarming air pollution level, which has been dubbed the worst in 17 years.
A Bench headed by NGT Chairperson Swatanter Kumar said: “Just look at what we are giving to our children for future. This is terrible.”
The Bench issued notices to the secretaries of Environment and Urban Development of Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan and directed them to be present before it on the next date of hearing on November 8.

:: International ::

UK announced changes to its visa policy for non-EU nationals

In a crackdown to curb its soaring immigration figures, United Kingdom government has announced changes to its visa policy for non-European Union nationals, which will affect a large number of Indians, especially IT professionals.
Under the new visa rules, anyone applying after November 24 under the Tier 2 intra-company transfer (ICT) category would be required to meet a higher salary threshold requirement of £30,000 from the earlier £20,800.
The ICT route is largely used by Indian IT companies in Britain and the U.K.’s Migration Advisory Committee had found earlier this year that Indian IT workers accounted for nearly 90 per cent of visas issued under this route.
The changes come just days before British Prime Minister Theresa May lands in India for her three-day visit.

:: Business and Economy ::

Turkey wants talks with India for FTA

Turkey wants India to start talks on a proposed Free Trade Agreement (FTA) soon and said the ongoing political turmoil will not impact foreign investment flows.
Though there is an India-Turkey Joint Study Group report on “the feasibility and possibility of concluding a Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement” (CEPA or, in other words, a FTA), no dates have been fixed for starting FTA negotiations.
Turkish companies want to make India a gateway for improving business ties in South Asia. Indian companies can use Turkey as a hub to expand operations in the European Union, the Middle East and Africa.
In FY’16, India-Turkey trade had shrunk nearly 28 per cent year-on-year to $4.91 billion of which India’s exports to Turkey were $4.14 billion (contraction of 22.7 per cent) while Turkey’s exports to India fell 47 per cent to $776 million.
However, he said while there was a standardised general incentive policy for investors, Turkey now had ‘tailor-made’ incentives for investments that help Turkey meet its economic development plans.

CSO will give advance estimates by GDP by first week of Jan

The Central Statistical Organisation will provide its advance estimates of GDP growth by the first week of January to facilitate the presentation of the Union Budget earlier than February 28.
The expenditure numbers are not linked to the GDP figure, so this year we are adopting the extrapolation approach and next year, the CSO has taken steps to advance the data collection so we can get it by the first week of January.
Das expressed confidence that the economy will clock higher growth this year than the 7.6 per cent GDP growth in 2015-16 on the back of improved farm sector output.
He said there was nothing “unusual” about the high fiscal deficit recorded in the first half of the year, a two-decade high of 84 per cent of Budget estimates.
Typically the fiscal deficit looks high in the first half of the year because the bulk of the revenues comes in the second half of the year, whereas expenditure is evenly paced.
In the second half, the revenue will come in and the target of 3.5 per cent of GDP will be achieved.

Govt wants $1.55 billion from Reliance

The Centre has sought $1.55 billion from Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) and its partners for drawing natural gas belonging to state-owned ONGC in the KG basin over the last seven years.
The Oil Ministry has sent a notice to RIL seeking $1.55 billion compensation, sources privy to the development said.
The Justice A.P. Shah Committee had opined that RIL should pay the government for the natural gas it has drawn from an adjacent block of ONGC in the KG basin of the Bay of Bengal in the past seven years.
In its report, the one-member Shah Panel said the Mukesh Ambani-run firm should pay for the gas that had migrated or seeped from ONGC blocks into its gas fields.
The panel, however, said the compensation should go to the government and not ONGC.