Current Affairs for SSC CGL Exams - 10 December 2015

:: NATIONAL ::

India and Pakistan to resume talks

Seven years after the 26/11 Mumbai attacks, India and Pakistan have agreed to resume struc-tured dialogue.
India and Pakistan have decided to restart the Comprehensive Bilateral Dialogue. The dialogue that was earlier known as Composite Dialogue and later on as Resumed Dialogue willnow be known as the Comprehensive Bilateral Dialogue
If its taken along with FS Jaishankar’s visit to Islamabad, then the Ufa meeting, it is the third attempt by the Modi government to reachout to Pakistan

TAPI Project

India and Pakistan will participate in another ground breaking event at the highest levels.
Vice President Hamid Ansari will travel to Ashgabat from December 11-13 for the inauguration of the $10 billion Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India pipeline (TAPI) project
The inauguration will take place on December 13, with all three leaders hosted by Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdymuhamedov.
While the TAPI project has been discussed by Turkmenistan, which has the world’s fourth largest reserves of natural gas, since 1995, India only joined the project formally in 2008. The project has been stalled over the years over gas price negotiations, transit fees, and the problems of security in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Calling TAPI “the most significant initiative in our relationship,” Mr. Modi had said it could “transform regional economic cooperation and bring prosperity along the route.”
Unless the security situation in Afghanistan is stable, this project won’t work. Particularly with the splitting of Taliban, rise of the ISIS, and the government’s inability to exert control in the western and southern parts, which does not look likely to be resolved anytime soon
The TAPI pipeline is expected to be completed by 2020, although operationalisation could take a few years more, and is expected to transport about 90 million standard cubic meters of gas per day. India’s share of 38 mmscmd would account for about 25% of its current gas requirements. The 1800km pipeline project contract would provide energy to Afghanistan, Pakistan and India for 30 years, with Turkmengaz extracting the natural gas at a shared cost from the Galkynysh field, the world’s second-largest reservoir of natural gas.

:: INTERNATIONAL ::

Angela Merkel-Time‘Person of the year 2015’

U.S. magazine Timeon Wednesday named German Chancellor Angela Merkel as its “Person of the Year2015,” hailing her leadership during Europe’s debt, refugee and migrant crises, as well as Russia’s intervention in Ukraine.
Time named Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, leader of the Islamic State (IS) extremist group, Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, America’s Black Lives Matter activists campaigning against inequality against AfricanAmericans and Iranian President Hassan Rouhani as its runners up.

:: BUSINESS ::

Pharma to have a separate ministry

Union Fertilisers Minister Ananth Kumar said there would be a separate ministry for pharma and medical devices sector in the next one year, and assured that the government will soon implement the Katoch panel recommendations to cut bulk drugs import from China.
Government recognises the pharmasector as a ‘sunshine industry’having a tremendous poten-tial for growth.
In order to benefit the domestic pharma industry, the government plans to implement the recommendations by the Ka-toch Committee in the next 100 days.
The government had set up a committee headed by V. M.Katoch, Secretary, Health Research, to suggest ways to reduce the dependence on bulk drug imports from China.
India currently meets about 80 per cent of its demand of bulk drugs or API,used as raw materials by the pharmaceutical industry, from Chinese imports
Government, for the betterment of people, is in the process of revising the National List of Essential Medicines (NLEM)2011.

Ship building industry gets Rs. 4000 crore package

The Union Cabinet cleared a Rs.4,000crore package to spur India’s ship building industry, combined with a slew of incentives which include the right of first refusal on all government purchases for Indian shipyards, tax incentives and the ‘infrastructure’ status for ship building and ship repair industry that would help them tap easier financing.
This package comes at the back of an exemption granted by the finance ministry in late November on all raw materials and parts used in the manufacture of ships/vessels/ tugs, and others, from customs and central excise duties.
The ship building industry is strategically important industry due to role in energy security and maritime defense and for developing heavy engineering industry,”

RBI to intervene in ETCD

As market participants gear up for the U.S. Federal Reserve’s meeting next week, when it is expected to take a decision on raising interest rates for the first time in more than a decade, the Indian central bank is keeping all its powder dry to combat any volatility in the financial markets.
RBI said it had decided to intervene in the Exchange Traded Currency Derivatives (ETCD) segment, without specifying if it had already been active in that market.
The central bank generally intervenes in the spot currency market, and manages the rupee flows resulting from that intervention through the forwards market.
Three exchanges — National Stock Exchange, BSE and Metropolitan Stock Exchange of India offer paired derivative contracts of rupee dollar, rupee yen, rupee pound and rupee euro.
The Indian currency has been under pressure amid foreign fund outflows and has depreciated almost 7 per cent against the dollar in the current financial year