Current Affairs for SSC CGL Exams - 08 November 2015

:: National ::

Modi's J&K package fails to lift mood

Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced an economic package of Rs. 80,000 crore for Jammu and Kashmir here on Saturday, but the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) was upset by his silence on a “political package” it had been expect-ing. Even so, the PDP, which is in an alliance with the BJP in the State, will take a “holistic view of the situation”.
Addressing a packed Sher-i-Kashmir Cricket Stadium, Mr. Modi said “not only Del-hi's treasures but Delhi's ‘Dil' [heart] is also always for thepeople of Kashmir”.
There can't be a bigger message than Mr. Vajpayee's Jamhooriyat, Insaaniyat and Kashmiriyat [democracy, humanity and the essence of be-ing a Kashmiri].
The State's development has to stand on these three pillars... People participated in recent polls and came out in huge numbers even for the panchayatpolls.

Centre notifies OROP , veterans reject it

The Union government notified the one rank, one pension (OROP) scheme on Saturday, but ex-service-men were quick to reject it.
“The Government Order by the Ministry of Defence, which could not be issued [earlier] because of the model code of conduct [for Bihar elections], has been issued to-day,” said a government statement.
The government seems to have stuck to the conditions announced by Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar in September. The veterans had rejected them then, and last weekend, announced plans to step up protests.
Personnel who henceforth get discharged on their own request under Rule 13(3)1(i)(b) ,13(3)1(iv) or Rule 16B of the Army Rule 1954 or the equivalent Navy or Air Force Rules will not be entitled to OROP benefits, the government said. The ex-servicemen, however, want no distinction between retirees, and exclusion of such personnel will become a major point of friction.
The two sides had not reached a consensus on the concept of premature retirement. Earlier, the government stated that those opting for it would not be eligible for the OROP.
After protests by ex-service-men, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said everyone was eligible. However, the notification said those opting for it in future would be out of the scheme.
The notification says “in future, the pension would be re-fixed every 5 years”. The ex-servicemen have been demanding more frequent revisions. They have argued that revision after every five years, which means five different pensions for the same rank, will not be in the spirit of the OROP.
The government announced that the pension of past retirees would be revised on the basis of the pension of retirees of calendar year 2013 and the benefit will beeffective from July 1, 2014. This is not acceptable to the veterans, sources said. The notification said arrears would be paid in four equal half-yearly instalments.
However, family pensioners and gallantry award winners would be made the payment in a single instalment, it said.

Red signals from meat

A recent recommendation of the World Health Organization (WHO) has declared red meat a carcinogen. Processed meats are the major culprit, and are a Class-1 carcinogen, which means that the evidence linking consumption to cancer is strong.
Red meats are in a lower category, 2A, which means consumption is probably linked to cancer, specifically colorectal cancer. The link between processed meat and colorectal cancer is hardly new.
A 2009 study funded by the U.S. National Institutes of Health found that eating red and processed meats was linked to a higher risk of dying of heart disease and cancer. In the U.K., it is estimated that 19 per cent of all cancers are linked to tobacco use whereas 3 per cent of all cancers are linked to red meat. The relative danger from processed meat consumption (relative to tobacco) is likely to be far lower in India where tobacco use rates are higher than in the U.K. and consumption of both red meat and processed meat is far lower.
Although meat consumption in India is on the rise, it is nowhere close to what the West consumes. Even compared to China, India’s intake is much lesser. Every Chinese citizen consumes 10 kg of poultry each year. This is roughly 10 times what every Indian does. The consumption of beef by the average Chinese citizen compared relative to India is even greater.
Moreover, the proportion of processed meat in India is small compared to most countries. However, consumption of meat as a whole and of processed meat is on the rise, although mostly of poultry rather than red meat.
The biggest health threat to the average Indian is likely to come from meat production rather than consumption of processed or red meat. Countries like Australia, New Zealand and the U.S. used to lead the world in beef exports. That’s no longer the case. India is the world’s largest beef exporter and, as it happens, is now also the world’s largest milk producer, although this latter improvement has not necessarily resulted in greater milk consumption for many of our children, who remain protein-deprived.
For a country with one of the lowest availabilities of fresh water supply per person, and where hundreds of thousands of children die of diarrheal diseases every year, the potential for disease and poor sanitation because of meat production has a far greater health consequence than any direct consumption of meat.
The second impact is in terms of climate change. Globally, livestock accounts for 18 per cent of greenhouse gas emissions. Beef production emits five times more greenhouse gas emissions than other livestock. Also, a global transition to a low-meat diet would halve the mitigation costs to achieve a 450 ppm CO2-eq. stabilisation target in 2050, needed to head off the worst effects of climate change.
Third, meat impacts land availability. Beef production requires 28 times more land than other livestock. A global food transition to less meat and a complete switch to plant-based protein food is likely to have a dramatic effect on land use. Up to 2,700 million hectares of pasture and 100 million hectares of crop land could be abandoned. The extra land could be used for fruits, vegetables and other foods.
Finally, meat production in India is increasingly using more antibiotics, placing selection pressure for drug resistant bacteria. Global consumption of antimicrobials in food animal production was estimated at 63,151 tonnes in 2010 and is projected to rise by 67 per cent in 2030. According to our estimates, roughly 58,000 newborn deaths are due to antibiotic-resistant bacteria produced each year in India. With greater antibiotic resistance, the impact on newborn deaths is likely to increase.

Over 100 community radios operating ‘illegally' in India

As many as 100 community radio operators in the country, out of 187 radio stations currently on air, are in effect operating illegally while transmitting pro-grammes.
A majority of them do not have the licence to operate, and as for the rest, they don't have valid agreements with the Information and Broad-casting Ministry. The licences and the agreements have expired and the fault lies with the Ministry, which is yet to give finishing touches to the Grant of Permission Agreement (GOPA), an essential prerequisite to obtain licences.
For a government for which communication is the key, the operators are surprised why the ministry has not demonstrated any urgency to draft the agreement guidelines for community radio. By keeping it a work in progress, the operators lose out in several ways. Says Arti Jaiman, station director of Gurgaon Ki Awaaz, a community radio station that broadcasts in Hindi, “Till we get a valid GOPA, we cannot get a wireless operating licence from the Department of Telecommunications.
This creates a whole lot of problems because, at the State lev-el, when we seek advertisements, they ask us for the broadcasting licences first.” The GOPA is valid for five years while licences are re-is-sued annually.

:: International ::

China, Taiwan hold historic talks

Taiwan and China have identified a broad agenda of engagement, including talks to narrow down differences over a “one-China” formulation, easing security tensions and collaboration in Beijing-led connectivity projects, following historic talks after a gap of 66 years, between Chinese President Xi Jinping and his Tai-wanese counterpart Ma Ying-jeou.
As they assembled for talks in Singapore, President Xi called his meeting with President Ma as “historic.” “This is a very special day, and a new chapter in history,” he added. Mr. Xi pointed out that a seven-year effort by both sides had culminated in Saturday's meeting. “This is a very special day, and a new chapter in history,” he ob-served.
Mr. Ma reciprocated, with matching enthusiasm, by point-ing out Saturday's meeting was not for his personal benefit but for that of the next generation. History, he added, has left a series of “complex and perplexing is-sues” that needed to be resolved. “On sensitive issues, the two sides should confront reality and deal with any problems using wisdom, patience, sincerity and pragmatism,” he observed.
A lengthy handshake that lasted 80 seconds, in full media glare, before they went into talks, underscored the special importance that the two leaders attached to the occasion.
Consolidating consensus Analysts point out that both leaders have a tough task ahead of bridging their gap on their perception of a “one-China” concept that the two neighbours hadflagged in 1992 when they had agreed that that there was only one China, but acknowledged their differences on its interpretation. In his remarks, President Ma noted that China and Taiwan needed to make progress in consolidating the consensus reached in 1992.

WHO declares Sierra Leone Ebola-free

The World Health Organisation on Saturday declared that Sierra Leone's deadly Ebola outbreak is over, prompting jubilant celebrations as thousands massed in the capital Freetown.
Crowds poured onto the streets, waving banners, dancing and banging drums as the steep hills surround-ing the city reverberated with the crackle of fire-works. It was the first public party tolerated in the impoverished west African nation since the epidemic hit 18 months ago. Ebola killed almost 4,000 citizens and plunged the economy into severe recession.

:: Economy And Business ::

Facebook joins $300-billion club, beats GE in market cap

Facebook, the 11-year-old social media company founded by Mark Zuckerberg in his Harvard dorm room, surpassed the $300-billion mark in market capitalisation, overtaking General Electric (GE) along the way.
Facebook became the seventh most valuable firm in the U.S. on Friday, with market capitalisation touching $303 billion and joined Alphabet, Apple, Microsoft and Amazon among the top 10 ranks.
$896-million profit The surge in market value came on the back of Face-book posting $896 million in third quarter profit on a revenue of $4.5 billion. In comparison, GE reported a profit of $2.51 billion on a revenue of $41.7 billion for the third quarter.
Facebook shares touched a high of $108 after the results valuing the tech giant at a whopping $306 billion,surpassing the about $300-billion market cap of GE. “We had a good quarter and got a lot done,”.
The stark contrast in revenue and profits of Facebook and GE notwithstanding, investors are bullish about Facebook's prospects, especially given its reach and ability to monetise the people's connections through advertisements.
The social media company, which counts more than 1.45 billion active monthly users, got 78 per cent of its advertising revenue from mobile advertising in the third quarter, a 66 per cent jump over the year earlier period.

Robust U.S. jobs report bolsters case for December rate hike

U.S. job growth surged in October and the un-employment rate hit a 7-1/2-year low of 5 per cent in a show of economic strength that makes it much more likely the Federal Reserve will raise interest rates in December.
Nonfarm payrolls in-creased 2,71,000 last month, the largest rise since December 2014, the Labor Department said on Friday.
In addition, average hourly earnings rose a respectable 9 cents. The payrolls jump followed modest gains in August and September.
The unemployment rate now stands at its lowest level since April 2008 and is in a range many Fed officials see as consistent with full employment.“The employment reporthad everything you could have asked for.
The reaction in financial markets was swift and sharp. The dollar rallied to a near seven-month high against a basket of currencies as investors braced for higher borrowing costs. U.S. Treasury debt prices fell, with yields on the two-year note hitting a 5-1/2-year high.

Cost of sending remittances likely to come down

With remittance to India is expected to increase by 2.5 per cent in this calendar year, the cost of sending remittances likely to come down further with many initiatives of the Government and the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), like payment banks.
However, remittances to developing countries are expected to rise by about 4 per cent in 2016 and 2017, buoyed by the continuing recovery in the U.S. and a modest acceleration of economic activity in Europe.
“It is hoped that India's new payments banks will expand penetration of the banking sector in rural areas, thus in-creasing competition in the remittances market,” says the recent World Bank's report on Migration & Development Outlook, which indicates remittances to India continue to grow steadily.
The report says that the decision by RBI to grant ‘in principle' approval for 11 entities to set up payments banks, which would be directed at small savers in underserved (largely rural) markets, could help transform the rural remittances market.
The entry of new players is likely to increase competition, lower remittance costs, and extend the formal market for remittances.
Unlike earlier, emigration from Northern parts of the country is on the increase compared to Southern India as per the State-wise figures of workers granted Emigration Clearance / ECNR Endorsement during the last five years 2010-2014. In 2014, U.P. is the highest — 229,444, followed by Bihar 98,721, Tamil Nadu (83,202), Andhra Pradesh (53,104), Kerala (55,058), and West Bengal (51,561).