Current Affairs for SSC CGL Exams - 06 October 2018

SSC CGL Current Affairs

::NATIONAL::

The 235 Rohingya refugees staying at the KalindiKunj camp are worried about their future after the government deported seven of them on Friday. The Supreme Court had on Thursday refused to stay their deportation. Most of refugees in the camp earn a living as daily-wage labourers and e-rickshaw or autorickshaw drivers.
They alleged that the Foreigners Regional Registration Office (FRRO) had refused to extend their visas, which expired in 2017.
The refugees said a police team had visited the camp on Monday and distributed a six-page nationality verification form titled ‘Personal Data Form’. The police asked each of them to fill the form and complete it with a photograph, by Thursday.

The on-going crisis in IL&FS has made Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to consider tightening the norms of asset-liability management (ALM) of non-banking finance companies (NBFCs). The RBI observed that those entities were relying heavily on short-term funds for lending to long-term projects.
“I would like to urge all the financial firms to place greater reliance on equity and other mode of long term finance for funding of long- term assets rather than relying excessively on short-term wholesale paper, chasing lower marginal cost of funding in order to retain or acquire market share. This is a myopic strategy,” RBI deputy governor Viral Acharya said in the post policy press conference.
N.S. Vishwanathan, another Deputy Governor, said there was a need to tighten NBFCs’ asset-liability management norms.
He said there had been a rapid growth of NBFCs in the last couple of years and some of them had increased their market borrowing by issuing commercial papers, which resulted in asset-liability mismatch. He, however, added that isolated events should not be seen as having system-wide implications and the sector was overall quite strong with a robust regulatory framework.

Minister of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare ShriRadha Mohan Singh while addressing the conclave of Chief Ministers of Himalayan states organized in Shimla said that Himalayan states are diverse in agricultural species, agricultural production systems and livestock breeds.
This diversity is extremely useful for the future, not only for humans but also for the protection and development of all animals and plants.
He said that organic farming should be emphasized for the coming generations. For the promotion of organic farming, there is a plan to develop clusters of 50 acres for which funds are being provided in the ratio of 90:10.
In order to promote value chain in organic farming in North East region, financial assistance for advanced seed plantation materials, development of basic structure etc is being provided to Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim and Tripura.
Under the Mission Organic Value Chain Development for North Eastern Region (MOVCD-NER), 50,000 farmers have been engaged in organic farming and 2500 interested farmers group have been developed. Sikkim is the first state to adopt organic farming and learning from it, other states are also adopting organic farming.

India and Russia on Friday concluded the contract for five S-400 ‘Triumf’ missile systems, one of the biggest defence deals in recent times, after the annual summit between Prime Minister NarendraModi and Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The announcement of the deal, which could attract sanctions from the United States, was made in a joint statement issued by both sides. “The sides welcomed the conclusion of the contract for the supply of the S-400 long range surface to air missile to India,” said the statement.
However, the two sides failed to conclude two other major deals, for stealth frigates and assault rifles, that were reportedly ready, as officials said further negotiations were needed.
It was also the only agreement not included with eight others exchanged in the presence of Mr.Modi and Mr. Putin, a possible move to avoid the controversy engendered when the last such deal for Rafale aircraft in 2015 was announced directly by the Prime Minister.

Union Minister of Commerce & Industry and Civil Aviation, Suresh Prabhu, released a study by the Department of Commerce on India-China Trade. The report tries to analyse the magnitude, extent and plausible reasons of India’s rising trade deficit with China.
The Commerce Minister said that India’s trade relationship with China is unique and no other bilateral trading relationship evokes as much interest in India as the India-China trade relationship. From being a small trading partner of India in 2001, within a span of fifteen years, China has rapidly become India’s biggest trading partner.
Trade between the two countries has been expanding but India’s trade deficit with China has been growing.
While releasing the study the Minister said that most industry associations want the Government to pursue a defensive approach to Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) and raise tariffs on the doctrine of domestic markets for domestic producers. Protectionist policies are on the rise globally. The global use of protectionist measures in 2018 was unprecedented with the trade wars looming between two of the largest economies of the world.
The study also underlines the opportunity available for India in increasing its services exports to China. Indices like Revealed Comparative Advantage (RCA) and Trade Complementarity Index (TCI) have been used to analyse the extent of India and China’s competiveness in this arena and the potential for the future.

The Indian Council for Medical Research (ICMR) has confirmed that the Canine Distemper Virus (CDV) was responsible for lion deaths in the Gir forest of Gujarat and recommended that the remaining lions be vaccinated to prevent further outbreaks. This goes against recommendations by wildlife biologists that wild animals shouldn’t be vaccinated.
“The scientists of ICMR-NIV (ICMR-National Institute of Virology) have recommended the existing CDV vaccine, which should work as a protective intervention for Gir lions,” said a press statement on Friday from the institute.
Though 21 lions reportedly died between September and October, the Pune-based ICMR-NIV found CDV responsible for the death of five Asiatic lions in Gir. The genetic sequence of the virus was compared to available CDV sequences and it was found to be related to the East African strains.
CDV causes a highly contagious and life-threatening disease in dogs. It also affects different wild carnivores viz., wolves, foxes, raccoons, red pandas, ferrets, hyenas, tigers, and lions. The prevalence of this virus and its diversity in wildlife of India has not been studied.

Indian men took the sixth spot and the women finished eighth in the Chess Olympiad that concluded here on Friday.
In the 11th and final round, seeded five in both sections, India was held 2-2 by Poland with draws on all four boards. In the women’s section, India struck late to beat Mongolia 3-1, with the victorious duo of Tania Sachdev and Padmini Rout providing the margin of triumph.