Current Affairs for SSC CGL Exams - 11 March 2017

National

The Rajya Sabha passed the The Enemy Property bill

The Rajya Sabha passed the The Enemy Property (Amendment and Validation) Bill, 2016, in the sixth attempt after ordinances were passed to keep the Bill alive, following fierce objections by the Opposition parties.
The government’s determination to pass the Bill was evident as 10 Union Ministers were present in the House to ensure that it was passed.
The 49-year-old law was amended to guard against claims of succession or transfer of properties left by people who migrated to Pakistan and China.
The Bill, which amends the Enemy Property Act, 1968, was passed by the Rajya Sabha despite the Opposition demanding deferring of the debate on the draft legislation for a threadbare deliberation next week.
The measure was passed by the Lok Sabha in March last year. After this, the Rajya Sabha had sent it to a select committee, following whose recommendations, the government had moved a number of amendments to it.
Earlier when the Bill was taken up in the Upper House, Congress leader Jairam Ramesh said “many senior members including the Leader of the Opposition are not present in the House for a variety of reasons.
Elaborating on the measure, he said it was a principle that the government should not allow commercial interests or properties of an enemy country or its citizens.
Mr. Jaitley said the right of the enemy property should vest in the government of India and not in the heirs of the citizens of the enemy countries.
The amendments proposed include that once an enemy property is vested in the Custodian, it shall continue to be vested in him as enemy property irrespective of whether the enemy, enemy subject or enemy firm has ceased to be an enemy due to reasons such as death.
The new Bill ensures that the law of succession does not apply to enemy property; that there cannot be transfer of any property vested in the Custodian by an enemy or enemy subject or enemy firm.
Also the Custodian shall preserve the enemy property till it is disposed of in accordance with the Act.
The amendments are aimed at plugging the loopholes in the Act to ensure that the enemy properties that have been vested in the Custodian remain so and do not revert to the enemy subject or firm.
The Bill also prohibits civil courts and other authorities from entertaining disputes related to enemy property.

Linking the Godavari with the Penna on the cards

Highly advanced LIDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) Survey will be taken up by Water and Power Consultancy Services (India) Limited to prepare a Detailed Project Report (DPR) for supplying Godavari water directly to Rayalaseema.
The State government is going whole hog for planning and executing another major interlinking of rivers project that is expected to cost Rs. 80,545 crore.
After successful linkage between the Godavari and Krishna rivers through the Pattiseema project, now the government is embarking on linking the Godavari with the Penna.
The project envisages transporting 20 tmcft from Godavari River to two reservoirs – the existing Somasila Reservoir in the Penna river basin and a new reservoir at Bollapalli.
The project report prepared by the AP Hydrology Department was selected over the one prepared by WAPCOS.
The 320 tmcft of water will be transported from Godavari with the aid of 700 km of canal, nine lift irrigation schemes, three old reservoirs and one new reservoir, three tunnels and one aqueduct across the Krishna river.
With the aid of 664 km of canal, one new reservoir and four old reservoirs to be taken up at an estimated cost of Rs. 1,05,625 crore.

Odisha, Bengal, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand come together for elephant census

In what will probably be the first such attempt, the States of Odisha, West Bengal, Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand have decided to conduct a synchronised elephant census between May 9 and 12.
The four States together have the maximum number of human-elephant conflict-prone regions in India.
The States will conduct the census based on an identical set of rules — using the direct and indirect counting methods.
The direct counting method is based on sighting of elephants while the indirect method uses the ‘dung decay’ formula, in which the the analysis of elephant dung is used to estimate the population.
As per the 2015 census, Odisha has 1,954 elephants while Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh and West Bengal had approximately 700, 275 and 130 elephants, respectively.
Earlier, field officials were deputed inside a forest area for direct counting. It was expected that the entire area would be covered. But, that is not possible because of many reasons.
As a result, the population was underestimated in some places while duplication was reported elsewhere. A simultaneous census will eliminate these factors.

International

Commonwealth trade summit concluded

Commonwealth trade summit concluded on Friday as Ministers from across the bloc committed to boosting intra-Commonwealth trade in the face of the growing clamour for protectionism globally.
India, meanwhile, announced a summit on trade amongst Commonwealth SMEs (Small and medium-sized enterprises) in May.
The meeting of SMEs from across the Commonwealth, an initiative of the Commonwealth Secretariat, and the Ministry of Commerce, will take place in New Delhi.
One of the ideas being considered is that of a Commonwealth ambassador, who will be commissioned to identify tangible ways in which trade among Commonwealth nations could be promoted and raised to around $1 trillion.
The role would lie within the Commonwealth Enterprise and Investment Council, headed by Lord Marland, who also hopes that a “Commonwealth Accord” is achievable.
The accord is a standard of rules — based on the shared experiences, rules and regulations — that could be subscribed to, and which, Lord Marland added, would help SMEs looking to enter new markets.
The trade meeting has gained increased significance as the United Kingdom seeks to increase its trade links beyond the European Union, while India also looks at the Commonwealth with renewed focus.

Japanese and U.S. navies are conducting joint exercises in the East China Sea

The Japanese and U.S. navies are conducting joint exercises in the East China Sea as tension intensifies in the region following North Korea’s missile tests.
The two sides launched the drill earlier this week, involving Japanese destroyers and a U.S. Navy carrier strike group, the Sankei Shimbun daily and Kyodo News said, quoting unnamed Japanese and U.S. government sources.
The Sankei said the drill was aimed at issuing a warning against nuclear-armed North Korea.
But is added the exercise was also meant to display the joint Japan-U.S. military presence in the East China Sea, where Japan and China are locked in a long-running dispute over uninhabited islets.
In Japan they are known as the Senkakus, while China claims then as the Diaoyus.

Science and Technology

NASA’s ‘Europa Clipper’ set to launch in the 2020s

NASA’s ‘Europa Clipper’ set to launch in the 2020s will probe the habitability of Jupiter’s icy moon Europa.
When the mission was still in the conceptual phase, it was informally called Europa Clipper, but NASA has now adopted that name as the formal title for the mission.
The moniker harkens back to the clipper ships that sailed across the oceans of Earth in the 19th century.
The mission plan includes 40 to 45 flybys, during which the spacecraft would image the moon’s icy surface at high resolution and investigate its composition and the structure of its interior and icy shell.
Europa has long been a high priority for exploration because it holds a salty liquid water ocean beneath its icy crust.
The ultimate aim of Europa Clipper is to determine if Europa is habitable, possessing all three of the ingredients necessary for life: liquid water, chemical ingredients, and energy sources sufficient to enable biology.

Great Barrier Reef is experiencing second straight year of mass coral bleaching

Australia’s Great Barrier Reef is experiencing an unprecedented second straight year of mass coral bleaching, warning many species would struggle to fully recover.
The 2,300-km reef suffered its most severe bleaching on record last year due to warming sea temperatures during March and April.
Bleaching is once again occurring, the government’s Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority said after an aerial survey off Australia’s eastern coast.
The agency said more bleaching was being observed in the central part of the reef, which last year escaped widespread severe bleaching. The 2016 bleaching was more severe in the northern areas of the bio-diverse site.
The back-to-back occurrence of widespread bleaching also meant there was insufficient time for corals to fully recover.
Bleaching occurs when abnormal environmental conditions, such as warmer sea temperatures, cause corals to expel tiny photosynthetic algae, draining them of their colour.
Corals can recover if the water temperature drops and the algae are able to recolonise them.
The Barrier Reef — already under pressure from farming run-off, development and the crown-of-thorns starfish — escaped with minor damage after two other bleaching events in 1998 and 2002.
The reef scientists plan to conduct further surveys over the next few weeks to determine the extent and severity of the bleaching.
Nearly two-thirds of shallow-water corals in a 700-km stretch of the reef’s northern section were lost to last year’s bleaching event, scientists have said.

Business and Economy

Net direct tax collections up to February grew 10.7%

Net direct tax collections up to February grew 10.7% as compared with the same period of the previous financial year, while net indirect tax collections increased 22.2% during the same period.
The collection net of refunds stands at Rs. 6.17 lakh crore, which is 10.7 % more than the net collections for the corresponding period last year. This collection is 72.9 % of the total Budget Estimates for direct taxes for financial year 2016-17.
During February 2017, net indirect tax collections grew 8.4%, with customs, central excise and service tax collections growing 10.9%, 7.4% and 7.6%, respectively.
This was slower than the 16.9% growth in net indirect collections in January 2017, when customs, central excise and service tax collections grew was 10.1%, 26.3% and 9.4%, respectively.
Within direct tax, corporate tax collections grew 11.9% while personal income tax collections grew 20.8%. However, after accounting for refunds, these growth rates stand at 2.6% and 19.5%.
The tax department issued refunds worth Rs. 1.48 lakh crore over the April 2016 to February 2017 period, which is 40.2% higher than the refunds issued during the corresponding period last year.
Within indirect taxes, net central excise collections stood at Rs. 3.45 lakh crore during the April 2016-February 2017 period compared with the Rs. 2.53 lakh crore collected during the corresponding period of the previous financial year, which amounts to a growth of 36.2%.

The country’s industrial production grew 2.7% year-on-year

The country’s industrial production grew 2.7% year-on-year in January despite the shock effect of demonetisation, according to Central Statistics Office data released.
The growth was partly due to the base effect as output had shrunk 1.59% in January 2016. The performance was better than the 0.38% contraction in December 2016, but lagged the 5.65% growth posted in November 2016.
The manufacturing sector, accounting for a little over 75% of the total Index of Industrial Production (IIP), grew 2.3% in January, up from a contraction of (-) 2.94% in January 2016 and (-) 1.97% in December 2016.
Mining sector recorded a 5.3% growth in January, compared with 1.54% in January 2016 and 5.24% in December 2016. Electricity production registered a 3.9% growth in January, lower than 6.56% in January 2016 and 6.28% in December 2016.
Capital goods output — a crucial pointer to investment demand in the economy — rose 10.7% from a low base of a contraction of (-) 21.55% in January 2016 as well as from (-) 3.01% in December 2016.
Consumer goods output contracted (-) 1% in January indicating weak consumer demand. Consumer durables output grew 2.9%.

The Central Board of Direct Taxes is considering making PAN mandatory for TAN

The Central Board of Direct Taxes is considering making PAN mandatory as a requirement for allotting Tax Deduction Account Numbers (TAN) to companies that deduct tax at source, according to a report by the CAG.
The Department is considering tightening the KYC norms for TAN issuance in light of the CAG’s discovery that the procedure for allotting TAN does not require any documents as proof of identity or address, not even a PAN.
More than one lakh notices amounting to a total demand of Rs. 4,180 crore were not addressed due to inadequate information about the assessee.
For issue of TAN, application is made in Form 49B and submitted to TIN-FC. However, no documents as proof of identity and address are required to be attached while submitting the Form 49B.
This inability to deliver the notices to the correct addresses resulted in the tax department being unable to recover a demand of Rs. 4,180 crore raised in the period 2007-08 to 2011-12.
The CBDT had in December 2016 agreed to consider making PAN mandatory for the issuance of TAN, according to the CAG report.

TRAI recommended setting up an ‘Office of Telecom Ombudsman

Telecom Regulatory Authority of India recommended setting up an ‘Office of Telecom Ombudsman,’ with powers to levy penalties on telecom service providers, for resolution of complaints and grievances of consumers.
“There is a need for an independent and appropriately empowered structure to be created for resolution of grievances of telecom consumers... an Office of Telecom Ombudsman needs to be established.”