Current Affairs for SSC CGL Exams - 12 April 2017

:: National ::

Centre has no plans to grant Special Category Status to any State

The Centre has no plans to grant Special Category Status to any State, Minister of State for Planning,told the Rajya Sabha.
Govt said parties should ensure fiscal discipline in their respective States and develop them utilising the extra Rs. 1.78 lakh crore that the Centre had given through the Finance Commission.
The last State to be accorded the status was Uttarakhand way back in 2001 and no State had been given the status after that, the Minister added.
After taking over, the BJP government gave 10% extra grant, amounting to Rs. 1.78 lakh crore per year, to the States through the Finance Commission.

HIV and AIDS (Prevention and Control) Bill passed by Parliament

With Parliament passing the HIV and AIDS (Prevention and Control) Bill, 2017, people living with HIV and AIDS are guaranteed equal rights in medical treatment, admission to educational institutions and jobs.
Maintaining that the Bill was “people-centric”, the Minister said it strengthened the rights of people infected with HIV.
The Bill lists various grounds on which discrimination against HIV-positive persons and those living with them is prohibited.
The law provides a broad legislative framework for the response to HIV in India and is the first national HIV law in South Asia.
The legislation prohibits discrimination against people living with, and affected by, HIV in a range of settings, including employment, education, housing and health care, as well as with regard to the holding of public or private office, access to insurance and freedom of movement.
It also bans unfair treatment of people living with and affected by HIV with regard to accessing public facilities, such as shops, restaurants, hotels, public entertainment venues, public facilities and burial grounds.
The Bill also prohibits any individual from publishing information or advocating feelings of hatred against HIV positive persons and those living with them.
India runs the second largest Anti-Retroviral Therapy (ART) programme in the world, Mr. Nadda said the rate of new HIV infections had dropped by 67% from 2.5 lakh to 85,000 and AIDS related deaths have declined to 54%

KEK completed the much-awaited ‘rolling-in’ of the Belle-II

The High Energy Accelerator Research Organisation (KEK) completed the much-awaited ‘rolling-in’ of the Belle-II experiment in Tsukuba, Japan. This experiment is designed to study violations of the Standard Model of particle physics.
A grand collaboration of 700 scientists from 23 countries, Belle-II has a significant Indian participation both on experimental and theoretical sides.
The fourth layer of the six-layer, highly sensitive particle detector, which is at the heart of Belle-II, has been built by Indian scientists.
Building the silicon vertex detector has been a directing force that brought us together. It is a very young team, with an average age of 30 years, apart from some senior leaders.

Govt will ask restaurants to specify the size of a meal

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s pitch against wastage of food has prompted the government to consider asking high-end restaurants and hotels to specify the portion size of a meal to enable customers order the right amount.
Union Food Minister Ram Vilas Paswan said the hospitality industry would be asked whether it can do it “voluntarily” or or needed the government to make legal provisions for it.
Mr. Paswan’s remarks came nearly a fortnight after Modi expressed concern over large-scale wastage of food.

:: International ::

G7 spoke against chemical attack in Syria

Foreign Ministers of the Group of Seven (G7) countries and several other West Asian countries spoke with one voice at a meeting in Lucca, Italy, condemning chemical attack in Syria that left 89 people dead.
The U.S. and its allies hold Syrian President Bhashar al-Assad responsible for the attacks.
The G7 also lent support to the U.S. for its attack on the Syrian government-controlled Shayrat airfield in Homs province.
While the G7 united to isolate Mr. Assad diplomatically and urged Russia to do the same, no agreement was reached on sanctions against Russia.
Some experts believe that the chemical attack and the U.S. strike may not change the situation in Syria dramatically.

:: Business and Economy ::

Passenger vehicles sales grew at the fastest pace in six years

Passenger vehicles sales grew at the fastest pace in six years in 2016-17, crossing the 30 lakh-mark for the first time in India, according to data released by the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM).
Sales of passenger vehicles in the domestic market grew 9.2% to 30.46 lakh units in 2016-17, compared with 27.89 lakh units sold in 2015-16.
The sales of sports unity vehicles (SUVs) grew at a four-year high of 29.9% to 7.61 lakh units in 2016-17. However, growth in the passenger cars segment slowed to a three-year low of 3.8% at 21.02 lakh units.
The two-wheeler sales registered yearly growth of 6.9% to 1.75 crore units in 2016-17 after showing a modest growth of 3% in the previous financial year.
However, sales of three-wheelers declined by 4.9% to 5.12 lakh units and the total commercial vehicles sales grew 4.2% to 7.14 lakh units.
The overall automobile exports declined 4.5% in 2016-17 on account of sharp decline in export of three-wheelers and two-wheelers. The growth in export of passenger vehicles and commercial vehicles stood at 16.2% and 5% respectively in 2016-17.
For the current financial year, SIAM expects overall passenger vehicles sales to grow 7-9%, two-wheelers 9-11%, commercial vehicles 4-6% and three-wheelers 4-6%.
Passenger and commercial vehicle manufacturers have an inventory of 1.2 lakh vehicles, compliant with old BS-III emission norms, worth Rs. 5,000 crore piled up following the Supreme Court’s order.
Automobile dealers offered a heavy discount to sell their inventory after Supreme Court on March 29 ordered a ban on registration and sale of BS-III vehicles from April 1.

PAN and TAN to come in one day to improve ease of doing business

The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) has tied up with Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA) to issue Permanent Account Number (PAN) and Tax Deduction Account Number (TAN) in a day, to improve the Ease of Doing Business for newly incorporated corporates.
Applicant companies should submit a common application form SPICe (INC 32) on MCA portal, and once the data of incorporation is sent to CBDT by MCA, the PAN and TAN are issued immediately without any further intervention of the applicant.
The Certificate of Incorporation (COI) of newly incorporated companies includes the PAN in addition to the Corporate Identity Number (CIN). TAN is also allotted simultaneously.