Current Affairs for SSC CGL Exams - 10 March 2017

:: National ::

For the conduct of free and fair polls multi phase polls will stay says CEC

Chief Election Commissioner of India (CEC) Nasim Zaidi has said that long-drawn-out, multiple-phase polls are here to stay because of the use of Central police forces for the conduct of free and fair polls.
Dr. Zaidi said it was the “anxiety” over the use of State police, and the preference for Central police forces by political parties, candidates and even voters that had led to this state of affairs.
Our elections have become heavily dependent on Central forces as people have their own reservations about the State police. The Commission, therefore, over the years, has come to depend on Central police forces.
Our anxiety and the anxiety of political parties that all polling stations should be covered by Central police has led to this situation.
There have been examples in the past that voters too feel that to truly ensure an unafraid exercise of franchise, Central forces are required.
Keeping all that in mind, there is no way out but to conduct polls in phases. Our voters have shown unprecedented enthusiasm, so they are, at least, not fatigued by the length of the poll.

Standing Committee says this year’s defence budget is not sufficient

The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Defence pointed out the bizarre reality that this year’s defence budget is not sufficient to meet even the committed liabilities in the case of the Navy.
Overall the committee observed that the budgetary provisions for 2017-18 as well as the “dismal status of capital procurements” do not reciprocate the “seriousness” required towards meeting defence needs.
“This year, the allocation is Rs. 18,000 crore in the capital budget, whereas the committed liabilities itself are to the extent of Rs. 22,000 crore,” the report noted about the Navy.
This means that the allocation would not be sufficient to pay for the deals already contracted. These observations were part of Report no. 29 on ‘Demands and Grants’ tabled in the Lok Sabha.
For the Army, against the capital allocation of Rs. 25,254 crore, the committed liability being carried forward from 2016-17 to 2017-18 itself amounts to Rs. 23,000 crore.
For the Air Force, the report noted that the budget allocated exclusively for ‘new schemes’ is only Rs. 4,000 crore, which it noted would “hamper the modernisation drive” of the force as expenses related to the procurement of aircraft and related equipment are high cost in nature.
The Committee also pulled up the defence ministry on its ‘Make in India’ initiative.
In 2016-17, a total budget of Rs. 22,222,34 crore was actually spent on modernisation by the Air Force, of which the report said only Rs. 268.10 crore, that is, about1% of the ‘spending’, was signed with Indian vendors.

India conveyed its concerns to Pakistan regarding the movement of terrorists

India conveyed its concerns to Pakistan regarding the movement of terrorists along the Line of Control (LoC) as well as repatriation of two of its nationals who crossed the LoC post-Uri terror attack.
The information was conveyed during an unscheduled call between the Indian Army’s DGMO, Lt. Gen. A.K. Bhatt, and his Pakistani counterpart Maj. Gen. Sahir Shamshad Mirza, the Army said in a statement.
These concerns arise primarily from specific inputs of Pakistani regulars training terrorists for infiltration and cross-border raids. The specifics of them have been shared with Pakistan DGMO.
As winter ends and summer sets in, infiltration sees a gradual increase along the LoC and the Army is gearing up for a surge this year in view of the unrest in Kashmir. However, Pakistan rejected the observation on terrorists along the LoC.
National Investigation Agency had handed over the two Pakistani youths, Faisal Hussain Awan and Ahsan Khursheed, to the Army’s 16 Corps headquarters in Jammu.
They were arrested in connection with the last year’s terror attack on the military camp in Uri in which 19 soldiers were killed.

Women in organised sector to be paid maternity leave of 26 weeks

Calling it a ‘humble gift’ to women in India, Labour Minister Bandaru Dattatreya welcomed the Parliament nod to the Maternity Benefit (Amendment) Bill, 2016.
Women working in the organised sector will now be entitled to paid maternity leave of 26 weeks, up from 12 weeks. The bill will benefit about 1.8 million women.
The new law will apply to all establishments employing 10 or more people, and the entitlement applies only up to the first two children. For the third child, the maternity leave entitlement will only be for 12 weeks.
The Maternity Benefit (Amendment) Bill, 2016 takes India to the third position in terms of the number of weeks for maternity leave, after Canada and Norway, where it is 50 weeks and 44 weeks, respectively.

:: International ::

There will be no changes in the H-1B visa programme for skilled temporary workers

There will be no changes in the H-1B visa programme for skilled temporary foreign workers before this year’s selection process kicks off on April 1, the White House indicated.
The U.S. admits 85,000 people on H-1B visas every year, through a lottery process that begins with the filing of applications on April 1.
President Donald Trump was focused on dealing with illegal immigration at the moment and the overall revamp of the immigration process will come subsequently.
While Mr. Trump’s preference for merit-based immigration as opposed to family-linked immigration could be seen as beneficial for Indian tech workers, any direct correlation could be misleading.
Mr. Trump has spoken about merit-based immigration throughout his campaign, even while opposing immigrant workers allegedly undercutting or replacing American workers.
Neither Mr. Trump nor his advisers believe the H-1B programme is merit-based, going by their public statements so far.
Mr. Spicer had earlier said the administration was considering executive and legislative actions to overhaul the H-1B programme.
While no measure is expected before the beginning of this year’s processing season, there could be changes later in the year.
Top on the administration’s priority is work permit for spouses of H-1B visa holders, which was introduced through an executive action by the Obama administration.

:: Business and Economy ::

Centre has issued draft rules to ensure confidentiality of electronic payments

The Centre has issued draft rules to ensure integrity, security and confidentiality of electronic payments made through prepaid payment instruments (PPIs), popularly called e-wallets.
The draft rules make it mandatory for e-PPI (electronic pre-payment instrument) issuers to develop an information security policy that ensures that the systems operated by them are secure.
The Information Technology (Security of Prepaid Instruments) Rules, 2017, define an e-PPI issuer as a “person operating a payment system issuing prepaid payment instruments to individuals/organisations” under the aegis of RBI.
The rules make it compulsory for e-PPIs to publish on their websites and mobile applications both their ‘privacy policy’ and terms for use of their payment systems. The draft also details the requirements of a privacy policy.
The rules mandate that e-PPIs should carry out risk assessment to spot security risks and also ensure adequate due diligence is done before issuing PPIs.

India sees opportunity to enhance bilateral cooperation with U.S. in energy sector

President Donald Trump have already set in motion a series of measures that will deregulate American oil, gas and coal sectors and India sees an opportunity to enhance bilateral cooperation in these areas in the coming years.
Thirty percent of all increase in world’s energy demand from now to 2040 will be from India, and energy cooperation will be an increasingly key component of bilateral relations, Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan said.
This was the first ministerial level interaction between India and U.S. under the new administration.
India will start importing Liquefied Natural Gas from the U.S. in 2018 under contracts signed during the previous Obama administration. Right pricing will enable India to ramp up imports from the U.S.
The Trump administration’s focus is on making American oil and gas sector competitive in the world market and it does not want environmental concerns holding back the sector.
By deregulating oil and gas, and rolling back incentives available to non–conventional energy industry, the Trump administration is hoping to create a boom in the U.S. oil and gas market.
Three Indian public sector companies, GAIL, Oil India and IOC and Reliance have invested in U.S. shale gas production.
The Obama administration’s focus was on pushing renewable energy cooperation with India, but Trump administration’s focus is different said an Indian official.

PFRDA hopeful Centre may raise equity cap for pensions

The pension fund regulator is hopeful of the Centre soon agreeing to its suggestion for allowing up to 50% of the funds contributed by government subscribers under the National Pension System to be invested into equities.
Presently, the ceiling on investments in equity markets from contributions made by government subscribers is 15%. In contrast, up to 50% of the contributions by non-government subscribers is permitted to be invested in equities.
This will be a “big change. Lot of money can start flowing into equities once the ceiling is raised from 15 to 50%,” Mr. Contractor said.
Contributions from non-government subscribers account for 15% of the corpus which is managed by seven pension fund managers (PFMs).
The consolidated investment in equities is 13%, he said adding two more fund managers are to be appointed shortly.
Among other suggestions is one to permit auto enrolment aimed at increasing pension coverage in the informal sector.