Current Affairs for SSC CGL Exams - 08 February 2016

:: NATIONAL ::

Due to security concerns, soldiers will remain in Siachen

Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar ruled out any troop withdrawal from the Siachen glacier after the last week’s avalanche claimed the lives of 10 soldiers.
major avalanche hit a post on the northern glacier at a height of 19,600 feet being manned by soldiers of the Madras Regiment.
One Junior Commissioned officer (JCO) and nine soldiers were killed in the tragedy and efforts are still on to locate and retrieve their bodies.
Noting that chances of finding any survivor was “very less or almost nil” as the area was under tonnes of ice, Mr. Parrikar said a search was still on.
He noted that casualties had come down in recent times and despite the best of efforts, nature could not be predicted.
India and Pakistan have lost over 2,000 soldiers in the last three decades, most of them to extreme and unpredictable weather events.
Time and again proposals have been put forward to demilitarise the glacier but India has refused any such move without proper delineation and acceptance of the current positions.

PM invited international community to invest in India

Narendra Modi invited international companies to make in India and make for India under a drive launched by his government.
He wanted the youth of the coastal areas to join the endeavour to make India a Blue Economy.
Speaking at the International Fleet Review 2016, he talked about reigniting the manufacturing sector with the ‘Make in India’ campaign. Defence and ship-building were its focus areas.
“The Indian Ocean region is one of my foremost policy priorities. Our approach is evident in our vision of ‘Sagar,’ which means “Ocean” and which stands for Security and Growth for All in the Region.

Health ministry in favour of single common entrance test

The Union Health Ministry has cleared an amendment to a law, which, if cleared by Parliament, will allow the Medical Council of India to conduct a single, common entrance test for admissions for undergraduate and post- graduate medical courses across the country.
The test may be introduced in 2016 if the Cabinet approves the proposal. A draft note has been circulated among the Ministries before it is presented to the Cabinet.
If it comes into being, students will be spared theburden of traversing the length and breadth of the country and pay multiple entrance fees to take several tests for a shot at a medical seat.
The MCI, it is learnt, has told the government that it could either notify an existing examination, for instance, the All-India Pre Medical Test (AIPMT), or a new one as the common test.
The MCI attempted to hold a common exam for postgraduate seats in 2012 and undergraduate seats in 2013.
But nearly 80 private colleges, several led by minority institutions and that currently have the freedom to organise theirown tests, united to take the MCI to court.
The Supreme Court ruled that the existing laws allowed the MCI only to decide the curriculum and not to administer entrance tests.

Plan of abolishing various taxes gets attention from secretaries

A presentation made last week for a sub-group of Secretaries set up by Prime Minister Narendra Modi seeks to abolish income tax and over 30 local, State and Central taxes.
The proposal from a Pune-based tax research outfit, Arthakranti, advocates replacing the present tax system with a single 2 per cent levy per receipt in bank accounts and recommends that just import duties be retained from the present system.
While the government is pitching for quick passage of the Constitution (122nd Amendment) Bill for the rollout of the Goods and Services Tax, Arthakranti’s proposal envisages a system that does not tax consumption or income, as is the case now, but the “velocity of money”.
The outfit has estimated that the levy it is proposingcan be collected through the banking channel rather than the tax collection authorities. Without leading to a loss of revenue, it will plug tax evasion and avoidance.
Arthakranti’s calculations show that the 2 per cent tax will yield Rs. 40,00,000 crore.
The claim was contested by the eminent economist and former secretary-general of the FICCI, Rajiv Kumar, who said that at 2 per cent, the proposed new tax will yield Rs.14,00,000 crore.
In 2014-15, the Centre’s total tax revenue (revised estimates) were Rs. 9,084,63 crore.

:: INTERNATIONAL ::

Despite UN sanctions North Korea launched satellite Kwangmyongsong-4

North Korea’s launch of a long-range rocket was conducted in defiance of UN sanctions and just weeks after a nuclear bomb test.
The U.S. Strategic Command said it had detected a missile entering space, and South Korea’s military said the rocket had put an object into orbit.
Later in the day, the United Nations Security Council began an emergency meeting on and diplomats said they expected the 15-nation body to condemn Pyongyang and redouble efforts to agree on new sanctions.
North Korea said the launch of the satellite Kwangmyongsong-4, named after late leader Kim Jong- il, was a “complete success” and it was making a polar orbit of Earth every 94 minutes.
North Korea had notified UN agencies that it planned to launch a rocket carrying an Earth observation satellite, triggering opposition from governments that see it as a long-range missile test.
North Korea’s launch sparked international anger and plans for talks on a U.S. missile defence system for the peninsula.
The United Nations labelled the launch “deeply deplorable” and Japan termed it “absolutely intolerable”. Even the isolated state’s sole major ally China expressed regret.

:: India and world ::

Troops of India and China held first joint tactical exercise in Chushul-Moldo

The border troops of India and China held their first joint tactical exercise in the Chushul-Moldo area along the northern border.
This is part of the ongoing initiatives taken by India and China to ensure greater interaction between troops stationed along the Line of Actual Control, and thereby ensure peace and tranquillity along the border.
As previously agreed by both countries, the exercise focussed on actions to be coordinated to tackle jointly aspects of humanitarian aid and disaster relief.
This exercise complements the Hand-in-Hand series of India-China Joint Exercises and the recently conducted joint exercise in Sikkim.

:: BUSINESS and ECONOMY ::

India sought clarity from U.S. On API issue

India has sought clarity from the U.S. government on the ramifications of a recent adjudication, which gave rise to apprehensions that the medicines procured by the American government should be only from companies making even the Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (API) either locally or in certain designated nations such as European Union (EU) members.
India and China account for about 80 per cent of the U.S.’s requirement of API (drug raw materials). The ‘determination’ of the U.S. Homeland Security Department — which seemed to imply that the drugs that contained APIs imported from India and China are ineligible to be sold to the U.S. government — is likely to directly and indirectly hurt India’s API exports to the U.S.
The matter came to the Indian government’s attention after Pharmexcil (a lobby group of the pharmaceutical industry) approached the commerce ministry earlier this month, asking them to intervene and help resolve the issue.
However, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said FDA requirements that govern the approval of drugs for marketing in the U.S. have not changed.

Mobile phones in India may each 50 crore by 2017

The production of mobile phones in India is likely to touch 500 million units in the next two years with lead- ing companies setting up manufacturing bases in the country.
Earlier this year, Telecom Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad had announced that mobile phone production in India had touched100-million mark.
The number of phones be- ing manufactured was 10 mil- lion sometime back (which increased) to 45 million and then to 100 million. The time has come when we will reach 500 million, may be in two years.
The government wants to reduce imports of electronic products while meeting domestic requirement through indigenous production.
It has received proposals worth Rs. 1.13 lakh crore in the electronics manufacturing segment under the modified special incentive package scheme (M-SIPS), which offers capital subsidies to large investments in electronics manufacturing and system design.