Current Affairs for SSC CGL Exams - 11 June 2017

::National::

Delhi pulled out of the strategic Shangri-La Dialogue

• A snub from Singapore’s annual Shangri-La dialogue led to India’s decision to withdraw its delegation led by Minister of State for Defence.
• Indian Minister did not rank as highly as Pakistan’s Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee, General Zubair Mahmood Hayat, as “civil military relations in Pakistan are different from those in India.”
• Organisers told Minister would only be accommodated at a “plenary session” on the last day of the three-day event (June 2-4), and not on one of the main panels as General Hayat was.
• Accordingly, the Indian High Commission in Singapore then informed the Singapore MFA that “under the circumstances,” the delegation from New Delhi was pulling out as the speaking slot confirmed was “not in line with their expectations.”
• Consequently India, which has attended 12 of the 16 Dialogues since 2002, had no speaker at the event this year, although Indian High Commissioner to Singapore Jawed Ashraf did attend all sessions of the conference.
• The Shangri-La Dialogue, funded and hosted by the Singapore government, is a unique “track-one” conference that Defence Ministers, officials and military chiefs of 28 Asia-Pacific countries, including China and the United States, attend each year.

Linking UID number with PAN card made  mandatory 

• From July 1 onwards, every person eligible to obtain Aadhaar must quote their Aadhaar number or their Aadhaar enrolment number for filing income tax returns as well as applications for PAN.
• Central Board of Direct Taxes, also said: “Everyone who has been allotted PAN as on the 1st day of July, 2017, and who has Aadhaar number or is eligible to obtain Aadhaar number, shall intimate his Aadhaar number to Income Tax authorities for... linking PAN with Aadhaar.”
• The Supreme Court, the government said, had upheld Section 139 AA (1) of the Income Tax Act which mandatorily requires quoting of Aadhaar for new PAN applications as well as filing returns.
• It has also upheld section 139 AA (2) which requires that the Aadhaar number must be intimated to the prescribed authority for the purpose of linking with PAN.

Pressure on U.K. Conservative Party that lost overall majority

• Pressure on British Prime Minister Theresa May continued to build amid criticism from within and outside the Conservative Party of the electoral campaign that resulted in the party losing its overall majority. 
• A snap survey of Conservative members backed her resignation, while two of her key advisers stepped down.
• “I take responsibility for my part in this election campaign, which was the oversight of our policy programme,” wrote Nick Timothy, who stepped down as the Prime Minister’s adviser. 
• He pointed, in particular, to his failure to include a ceiling on the cost of social care in the manifesto, which provoked an outcry and resulted in an embarrassing U-turn by the party. The other under-fire aide, Fiona Hill, has also resigned.
• The duo are widely credited with running the Conservative election campaign, which focussed attention entirely on Ms. May rather than the Cabinet

Rajasthan government has raised insurance cover for farmers

• The Rajasthan government has raised the insurance cover by Rs. 1 lakh to Rs. 6 lakh for farmers who avail crop loan from cooperative banks in the State, as it aims to bring around 25 lakh peasants under the scheme.
• The Rajasthan government has raised the insurance amount by Rs. 1 lakh in the present fiscal year in the ‘Raj Sahakar Personal Accident Insurance Scheme’ targeted to cover more than 25 lakh farmers, a State minister said.
• Last year, the insurance amount was Rs. 5 lakh and 23.31 lakh farmers were covered under the insurance scheme.

::International::

German Chancellor wants Brexit talks to start soon

• German Chancellor Angela Merkel urged Britain to quickly launch Brexit talks with the European Union after Prime Minister Theresa May suffered a harsh election setback.
• “We are ready for the negotiations. We want to do it quickly, respecting the calendar,” Ms. Merkel said during a visit to Mexico.
• She said talks with Britain on its withdrawal from what would now be the 27-member EU would start “in the coming days.”
• “We were waiting for the election in Britain, but in the next few days these talks will begin,” she told a press conference.

::Business and Economy:: 

Goods and Services Tax Suvidha Providers wants returns filling to be delayed

• The Goods and Services Tax Suvidha Providers (GSPs) have asked GSTN and the Department of Revenue to postpone the date of filing returns under the new regime by a month to September 10, even if GST itself is rolled out on July 1.
• The GSTN held a review meeting with all 34 GSPs, where it began releasing the specifications for various tax return forms needed under the GST.
• Several GSPs have spoken about how the lack of preparation, on the part of the government and the GSPs, could mean that the rollout of the entire system of GSPs could be pushed back by a few months.
• GSPs were also asked to get cybersecurity audits done for their IT systems before they started feeding taxpayer data into their systems.
• The statement said that GSPs are to have their systems audited as per ISO standards on security from an auditor empanelled with CERT-IN, before connecting with and pushing data into the GST system. 
• Another GSP manager said though most GSPs have robust systems, audits were needed to ensure security. He added that audits, though, would only add to delays in becoming truly ready.

Lower tax on pharma should be passed on to customers says Centre

• The Centre has warned pharmaceutical companies to comply with the anti-profiteering clause in the Goods and Services Tax rules and pass on to consumers any benefit arising out of lower tax rates under the indirect tax regime.
• The notification by the Department of Pharmaceuticals also said that, for scheduled drug formulations on which excise duty is levied on the maximum retail price, the revised price ceiling exclusive of GST would be 95% of the current price ceiling.
•  “In case of savings due to lower rate of tax, the benefit may be passed on to the consumers as per the anti-profiteering clause in GST rules,” according to the notification.
• The Centre also specified the price rules for non-scheduled drugs under the GST regime, saying that pharmaceutical companies would have to absorb any burden that may arise from higher taxes which would increase the price of the drug more than the permissible 10% increase over their levels in the previous 12 months. 

::Science and Tech:: 

Researchers synthesised molecule that shows promise as an anticancer agent

• Researchers at the Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru, have synthesised a small molecule that shows a degree of promise as an anticancer agent. 
• In particular, the inhibitor was effective against leukaemia. The work was done in collaboration with researchers from the University of Mysore.
• The molecule (a benzothiazole derivative), codenamed 5g, was found to be effective in inhibiting cell proliferation in both leukaemia and breast cancer cell lines. 
• This was achieved by arresting a particular phase (G2/M) of the cell cycle, thereby preventing cancer cells from dividing and growing in number. 
• In the case of mouse models, the 5g molecule was able to arrest tumour growth without causing significant side-effects.
• The inhibitor was able to arrest the cancer cells from proliferating by elevating the levels of intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS), which, in turn, causes DNA damage by breaking the DNA’s double-strands. 
• The molecule also activated the cell death pathway when higher concentration was used. However, the molecule did not cause any damage to normal blood cells. The results were published in the journal Scientific Reports.
• At a dosage of 50 micromolar, about 70% of leukaemia cells were killed, compared with 25% of normal blood cells. This suggests that the 5g molecule could be “less toxic” to normal cells compared with cancer cells. 
• Even when the dosage was reduced to 10 micromolar, the molecule was able to arrest the cell cycle, particularly after 36 hours of treatment. 
• However, at the end of 48 hours, the cells were either dead or repaired their DNA damage and proceeded with normal cell cycle of division and proliferation.
• A majority of the cancer cells were killed but some reverted to normal cell cycle. The reason for this is not known. 
• In mouse models, the molecule was able to arrest cancer cells’ cell cycle when 60 and 120 mg per kg of body weight dosages were used. Also, “significant” reduction in tumour volume and “moderate” increase in life-span were observed when treated with 60 mg per kg of body weight for 14 days. The molecule was able to reduce the tumour burden by arresting the cell cycle than by causing cell death, the researchers found.
• Since on its own the molecule did not bring about cell death in mouse models, it cannot be used as a standalone therapy. 

Highly protected marine reserves can help mitigate the effects of climate change

• Evaluating 145 peer-reviewed studies, a research team has concluded that “highly protected” marine reserves can help mitigate the effects of climate change.
• Around the world, coastal nations have committed to protecting 10% of their waters by 2020, but so far, only 3.5% of the ocean has been set aside for protection, and 1.6%, or less than half of that, is strongly protected from exploitation, Xinhua reported.
• The study also notes that ocean surface waters have become on average 26% more acidic since pre-industrial times. 
• By the year 2100, under a “business-as-usual” scenario, they will be 150% more acidic, while coastal wetlands, including mangroves, seagrasses and salt marshes have demonstrated a capacity for reducing local carbon dioxide concentrations because many contain plants with high rates of photosynthesis.

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