Current Affairs for SSC CGL Exams - 12 December 2016

:: National ::

Vardah cyclone heading towards Tamil Nadu

Cyclonic storm Vardah is likely to make landfall along north Tamil Nadu and south Andhra Pradesh coast, close to Chennai, accompanied by strong winds with speeds of 80 to 90 kmph.
The rain would gradually in- crease from the morning of December 12 and was expected to last until the next day in the northern districts of Chennai, Tiruvallur and Kancheepuram.
North Tamil Nadu and south Andhra Pradesh coasts would get to light to moderate rain with possibilities of heavy rainfall of up to 20 cm as the system makes landfall.

NGT directs Rajasthan Govt to cancel allotments contrary to wetland rules

The central zonal bench of the National Green Tribunal (NGT) has directed the Rajasthan government to cancel allotments of salt pans in the Sambhar Salt Lake that fall within the wetland and run contrary to the mandate of Wetland Rules, 2010.
The bench, in a recent order, also directed the State government not to make any further allotments or permit new salt pans within the wetland areas or in the ‘no construction zone’ identified in accordance with the Wetland Rules, 2010.
The bench, referring to the reports on the matter, directed the authority to examine the sensitive issue in light of observations and recommendations made by the two expert committees in the year 2010.
The illegal business of brine extraction in the Sambhar Lake was first highlighted in the Vinod Kapoor fact-finding report in 2010.
The report had mentioned that 15-20 borewells were operating in every bigha of land during that period and over exploitation of water resources had lowered the groundwater level by almost 60 metres in the area.
While Sambhar Salts Ltd (SSL), a government venture, which has over 90 square miles at Sambhar and Nawa, produces two lakh tonnes of salt per annum, private companies together make around 20 lakh tonnes a year.

Parliamentary standing committee says apex court showing zeal for primacy

As the SupremeCourt and the Centre differ over the delay in appointment of judges in the High Courts, lawmakers have for the first time joined the fray.
They have tabled a Parliamentary Standing Committee report accusing the Supreme Court of distorting the original constitutional mandate and showing an “unnecessary zeal” for primacy in judicial appointments.
The report, tabled in both Houses of Parliament, concludes that the judiciary’s zeal for primacy over the government had led to the “present unfortunate situation”.
Nearly 43 per cent of the approved strength of judges in High Courts is vacant. The draft Memorandum of Procedure for judicial appointments has been in limbo for almost a year.
The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Personnel, Public Grievance, Law and Justice, has directly contradicted the Supreme Court’s judgment on the NJAC law, which upheld the concept of judicial primacy.
In fact, the committee recommends that the original constitutional position on judicial appointments be brought back.
The appointment of High Court judges is “essentially” an executive function and ashared responsibility of the government and the judiciary.
The committee said the Constitution’s makers believed that only an equal involvement of multiple constitutional authorities in judicial appointments would mould an independent judiciary.
On this, the committee quotes Dr. B.R. Ambedkar, who said: “After all, the Chief Justice is a man with all the failings, all the sentiments and all the prejudices which we as common people have”.
The committee noted that both the Supreme Court collegium and the government reject names of judges without showing any cogent reasons.
The parliamentary report may also have hinted that the NJAC judgment was not heard by a sufficient quorum of judges.
It recommended that the Supreme Court ought to set up a Bench of a minimum 11 judges while deciding the validity of a constitutional amendment.

US designated India as Major Defence partner

With U.S. designating India as a Major Defence Partner (MDP), licensing regulations to acquire sensitive military technologies, such as those that go into the F-16 and F-18 fighter jets, will be simplified.
This is a unique designation conferred on India, out- side the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) countries and U.S. treaty allies such as Australia and Japan.
U.S. Congress passed the National Defence Authorisation Act to enhance defence and security cooperation with India. Defence MinisterManohar Parrikar and U.S. Defence Secretary Ashton Carter agreed on the provisions of the designation.
This comes at a time when India is consideringproposals for a new fighter aircraft to be built under the “Make in India” initiative, in significant numbers, with technology transfer.
U.S. aerospace majors Boeing and Lockheed have submit- ted proposals to build their F-18 and F-16 fighter jets.

:: International ::

Paolo Gentilonito be Italy’s new Prime Minister

Paolo Gentiloni was named as Italy’s new Prime Minister follow- ing reformist leader Matteo Renzi’s resignation in the wake of a crushing referendum defeat.
Mr. Gentiloni, who served as Foreign Minister under Mr. Renzi, was asked by President Sergio Mattarella to form a new Centre-Left government that will guide Italy to elections due by Feb 2018.
Mr. Gentiloni said there was an “urgent need for a fully functioning government” to address a series of pressing international, economicand social issues.
Chief among those is a looming crisis in the troubled banking sector andongoing relief efforts after a series of deadly earthquakes between August and October.

:: Science and Technology ::

Country to get first industry built spacecraft by 2017

The Indian SpaceResearch Organisation has roped in a consortium of six companies to deliver the country’s first industry-built spacecraft by late 2017.
The contract includes assembly, integration and testing (AIT) of two spare navigation satellites consecutively in around 18 months.
From the third year, Indian industry could expect competitive bids for a new lot of spacecraft of 300-500-kg class, perhaps five a year, for both ISRO and for export, Col. H.S. Shankar (retd), CMD of Alpha Design.
This is the first time that ISRO has out- sourced an entire satellite to industry.
Alpha is a defence manufacturing contractor while the others are small and medium-sized vendors that already supply components to ISRO.
The others in the consortium are Newtech Solutions, Aidin Technologies and DCX Cables of Bengaluru, Vinyas Technologies of Mysuru and Avantel Systems of Hyderabad.
The work will start around January and the first space- craft will be brought out in around nine months.

:: Business and Economy ::

GST legislation will not be passed in this session of Parliament

The legislation required to be passed by Parliament for the roll-out of the GST will not be tabled in the Winter Session as the sixth meeting of the GST Council failed to reach a consensus, next meeting has been shifted to December 22-23.
The Winter session ends on December 16.“Our target is April 1 and we stand by it,” Finance Minister Arun Jaitley told reporters.
“The luxury of time is not available to us. April 1 is the first possible day for the GST to be implemented and the last day is constitutionallydefined as September 16.
So the difference is just five months and 15 days. That’s why we don’t have the luxury of time.”

Finance Ministry asked to keep record of deposited notes

The FinanceMinistry has asked all the public sector banks and the Indian Banks Association to ensure that deposits of old and new notes are properly reflected in customers’ counterfoils.
Though most banks are already providing the correct information to the customers, they must ensure that this is done in 100 per cent of the cases.
“All the bank branches in the country must be alerted to reflect correctly the cash deposit in old and new currency and informthe customers about the same,” according to the statement.
The Ministry has asked all the heads of the banks to take firm action if the instructions were not followedscrupulously.
It asked banks to prominently display a sign, requesting customers to fill-up deposit slips clearly indicating old and new currency and the denomination.
The action taken in this regard has to be reported to the Department of Financial Services by December 16.

India should try to restrict the coal uses

Strict emission standards, an enabling regulatory framework, and a high price on carbon are some of the key ways India can boost its natural gas sector, according to the International Gas Union,NGO of natural gas majors from around the world.
The more than 140 members of the IGU are associations and corporations of the gas industry representing more than 95 per cent of the global gas market, and they work together to help countries, such as India, move towards a higher share of natural gas in their energy mix.
Gas is 50 per cent cleaner than coal on carbon emissions, significantly cleaner on sulphur oxides and nitrogen oxides, and has virtually non-existent PM 2.5 emissions, which is the big issue with respect to air quality
India’s reliance on coal as a source of energy is normal for a developing economy, but the need to balance economic growth with environmental concerns means that there are significant opportunities in the gas sector.
The Indian government has strongly committed to its targets of reducing emissions by 33 per cent by 2030, as set out during the COP21 summit in Paris, and towards this it has initiated a strong push towards a gas-based economy and has also in- vested heavily in renewable energy.
Overall, while coal is cheaper than gas to produce, it works out to be significantly more expensive when externalities like health costs and environmental costs are worked into the equation.
However, even if India ramps up its production of natural gas, it will still need to import gas for the fore- seeable future
Private investment in the domestic natural gas market is set to increase in the future due to the pegging of the price of natural gas to the international market.