Current Affairs for SSC CGL Exams - 12 February 2016

:: NATIONAL ::

Highly elusive gravitational waves detected

The highly elusive ‘gravitational waves’ have finally been detected. Understandably, and justifiably, there is great elation within the global physics community, astro- physicists and cosmologists in particular
After decades of search for these ripples in space-time, which Albert Einstein predicted exactly 100 years ago.
Scientists working with the gigantic optical instruments in the U.S. called LIGO [Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory], have detected signals of gravitational waves emanating from two merging black holes 1.3 billion light years away arriving at their instruments on the Earth.
That is to say, this cataclysmic event of two black holes merging occurred 1.3 b yrs ago, when multi-cellular organisms were just beginning to form on the Earth, the gravitational wavesfrom which are being received now on the Earth.
The announcement was beamed across all the laboratories of the world participating in the LIGO Science Collaboration (LSC). LSC comprises about 1000 scientists from 16 countries.

Lance Naik Hanamanthappa dead

Lance Naik HanamanthappaKoppad, whose miraculous survival days after an avalanche hit an Army camp on the Siachen Glacier transfixed the nation, died on Thursday morning.
This brought the focus back on the challenges of military deployment on the glacier, with Pakistan indicating that it is willing to consider early de-militarisation.
The soldier of 19 Madras Regiment is survived by his wife and daughter.
Hanamanthappa was rescued alive on Monday, having been buried under 35 feet of snow, along with nine other soldiers.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi led the nation in bidding farewell to Hanamanthappa.

BSE saw one of the biggest single day fall

Disappointing results from State Bank of India (SBI), amid global weakness, dragged the BSE Sensex to its lowest close in 21 months.
The benchmark index posted its biggest single-day fall since August 24, 2015, slump- ing 807.07 points, or 3.40 per cent, to 22,951.83 at the close on Thursday.
The broader Nifty fell 239.35 points, or 3.32 per cent, to close at 6,976.35.
Investor sentiment was affected after SBI reported a 62 per cent drop in its net profit to Rs.1,115 crore owing to an increase in bad loans.
The lender saw fresh slippage of more than Rs. 20,000 crore, which took its gross non-performing assets to a staggering Rs.72,792 crore or 5.1 per cent of its total loans.
On BSE, more than 2,400 stocks declined as against 288 gainers. The rupee also weakened 0.45 against the dollar, the most in a month, to close the day at 68.30 amid foreign fund outflows.

Much awaited plan for malaria elimination announced by Health Ministry

The Union Health Ministry announced the much-awaited plan to eliminate malaria from the country by 2030. This will be the first time that the government’s policy intervention will have deliverables and time-bound targets.
Under the new framework, India will be divided into three categories as per malaria prevalence — low, moderate and endemic States.
By 2016 end, all States are expected to include malaria elimination in their broader health policies; by the end of 2017.
All States are expected to bring down Annual Parasite Incidence [API] to less than 1 per thousand population.
By the end of 2020, 15 States/UTs under category 1[elimination phase] are expected to interrupt transmission of malaria and achieve zero indigenous cases and deaths due to malaria.
It is also envisaged that in States with relatively good capacity and health infrastructure, namely, Gujarat, Karnataka and Maharashtra, accelerated efforts may usher malaria elimination sooner — within two to three years.
According to Ministry statistics, 1.13 million cases and 287 deaths were reported in the provisional data.
However, British medical journal The Lancet estimates that India re- ports at least 50,000 malaria- related deaths annually, making discrepancy in data the biggest challenge in elimination strategy.
The gross underestimation of data is something officials of the National Vector Borne Disease Control Pro- gramme have acknowledged. At a recent press conference held by the ICMR.

Severe penalties would be imposed on power companies for not adhering to solid waste rule

The Central government has issued a circular to all power distribution companies stating it was mandatory for them to buy electricity from power plants fuelled by solid waste.
In case the companies brush aside the instructions, the government would impose severe penalties on them, an entitlement that comes from the recent amendment of the Electricity Regulatory Act (2013).
To turn Prime Minister Narendara Modi’s Swachh Bharat Mission a success, Venkaiah Naidu-led urban development ministry convinced the power ministry inearly January to amend the Electricity Regulatory Act 2013 and include the “penalty” clause for companies that violate the new instructions.
The Centre now aims at generating 700 megawatts of electricity from solid waste- run plants in the next fiveyears.
Every day, about 1.68 lakh tonnes of solid waste is collected across the country.
As State governments will have to build plants that can produce energy from solid waste, the ministry offered to cover “20 per cent” of the cost of each plant. This money would come from the Swachh Bharat Mission.
Of its budget allocation of Rs. 62,000 crore, Rs. 38,000 crore would be spent on building solid waste management infrastructure across the country.
The road to arriving at energy generation is still long but the ministry has made a significant progress in setting up an effective door- to-door collection and transportation of solid waste.

SC for uniform compensation scheme for differently abled rape victims

Highlighting the plight of differently abled victims of rape and sexual exploitation, the Supreme Court ordered all States and Union Territories to formulate a uniform scheme for providing them compensation.
It stressed that no amount of money can wipe away the tears of these women who have to battle both the social disadvantage of their disability and stigma of the crime committed against them.
The compensation given to rape victims was negligible compared to the trauma they had to undergo all their lives.
Compensation and rehabilitation expenses range from Rs. 20,000 to Rs. 1 lakh at the most, except in the State of Goa where victims were paid Rs. 10 lakh.

:: INTERNATIONAL ::

After US saying only political solution to Syria, Russia continues military action

For months now the U.S. has insisted there is no military solution to the Syrian civil war, only a political accord be- tween President Bashar Al- Assad and the fractured, divided opposition groups that have been trying to topple him.
But after days of intense bombing that could soon put the critical city of Aleppo back into the hands of Mr. Assad’s forces, the Russians may be proving the U.S. wrong.
There may be a military solution, one senior U.S. Official conceded, “just not our solution”, but that of President Vladimir Putin of Russia.
The Russian military action has changed the shape of a conflict that had efectively been stalemated for years.
Suddenly, Mr. Assad and his allies have momentum, and the U.S.-backed rebels are on the run.
His colleagues in the administration, however, fear that a three-month-long efort to begin the political process is near collapse.
If it fails, it will force Kerry and President Barack Obama, once again, to consider their Plan B: a far larger military effort, directed at Mr. Assad.
At the core of the U.S. strategic dilemma is that the Russian military adventure has been surprisingly effective in helping Mr. Assad reclaim the central cities he needs to hold power, at least in a rump-state version of Syria.

:: BUSINESS AND ECONOMY ::

RBI governor says Balance sheet clean up will only have short term effect

The ongoing clean- up of bank balance sheets will help spur economic growth and improve the lenders’ profitability, Re- serve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Raghuram Rajan said..
The RBI had conducted an asset quality review (AQR) of banks and identified specific accounts, which banks have to identify as non-performing in twoquarters, October-December and January-March.
As a result, bad loans have hit banks’ profitability in the third quarter with most of them posting heavy losses in Q3.
State Bank of India reported 62 per cent drop in its net profit on the back of over Rs. 20,000 crore rise in non-performing loans or bad loans.
Private banks, which are in a much better shape on the asset quality front, saw their business growing much more than their public sector counterpart.
Non-food credit growth from public sector banks, the more stressed part of the system, grew at only 6.6 per cent over the calendar year 2015.
In contrast, non- food credit growth in private sectorbanks was 20.2 %, per cent.
The Indian banking sector is seeing rise in stressed assets over the last three years.
According to RBI data, stressed asset, that is gross NPA plus standard restructured advances, as a percentage of advances moved up to 11.3 per cent as on September 2015 as compared to 9.2 per cent in March 2013.

In order to align small savings with market Interest rates might be reduced

Interest rates for small savings schemes, such as Post office Savings Account, Public Provident Fund and Post office Fixed Deposit Scheme, may be reduced by the government to align them more.
The new rates would be applicable from April 1, 2016. The rates for the long-term schemes and those for the girl child and senior citizens will remain unaffected by the decision.
The Reserve Bank, over the last one year, has reduced interest rates by over a percent- age point.
At present, the small savings rates are linked to government securities and are readjusted every year. The decision is to start adjusting the rates on quarterly basis.
The smalls saving schemes include Post office Monthly Income Scheme (MIS), PPF, Post office Fixed Deposit Scheme, Senior Citizens Savings Scheme, Post office Savings Account and Sukanya Samriddhi Accounts.
While the rates for the girl child and senior citizen schemes will also be adjusted every quarter, the spreads they have over the G-Sec rates will be left unaltered.