Current Affairs for SSC CGL Exams - 12 January 2017

:: National ::

The Supreme Court said political parties require donations from followers to project their political ideas and represent the people. It dismissed a petition seeking to lift “100 per cent tax exemption” granted to political parties.
“Every political party needs funds to project their political regime and politically represent the people who follow them,” a three-judge Bench led by Chief Justice of India J.S. Khehar said.
The court observed that it was up to the government of the day to decide what tax regime they need to impose.
The Bench did not find any merit with a writ petition challenging certain provisions in the Income Tax Act and the Representation of the People Act. Mr. Sharma had challenged the constitutionality of Section 13A of the I-T Act of 1961.
The petition asked the apex court to decide why ordinary persons are taxed while political parties enjoy exemption from tax.

While extending the scheme of equitable time-sharing on electronic media for the ensuing Assembly electionsunder State funding of recognised political parties through the free use of State-owned television and radio.
The Election Commission (EC) released a set of stringent guidelines for observance in the telecasts/broadcasts.
The guidelines said that telecasts/broadcasts on Doordarshan/AIR will not permit criticism of other countries, attacks on religions or communities, anything obscene or defamatory, incitement of violence, anything amounting to contempt of court.
Aspersions cast on the integrity of the President and the Judiciary, anything affecting the unity, sovereignty and integrity of the nation, and any criticism by name of any person.
At the time of General Elections to the Lok Sabha in 1998, a new initiative for State funding of recognised political parties through free use of the State owned Television and Radio was introduced under directions of the Commission.
The said scheme was subsequently extended in all the elections to the State Assemblies held after 1998 and General Elections to the Lok Sabha in 1999, 2004, 2009 and 2014.
With amendments to the Representation of People Act in 2003 and the rules notified thereunder, equitable time sharing for campaigning by recognised political parties on electronic media now has statutory basis.

Russia has amended its laws, allowing long-term contracts for spares and support for military equipment supplied to India. This will address long-standing concerns on the serviceability of the imported equipment.
In the next step, India is also discussing the possibility of Russian Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) allowing licence-manufacture of spares locally by Indian vendors.
Currently, procurement of spares is a long and cumbersome process as India cannot deal directly with the OEMs but with designated intermediaries like Rosoboronexport. The change in law does away with that.
Indian military largely constitutes platforms and equipment of Russian origin and a constant concern has been the availability of spares for them.
To address this, the two countries began discussions for a long-term agreement on spares for five years, which would ensure quick delivery of spares and support from the OEMs.
One of the biggest beneficiaries of this will be the frontline Su-30MKI fighter jets of the Indian Air Force, the serviceability of which had at one time fallen below 50 per cent.

On-road emission tests for vehicles plying on Indian roads will be mandatory once the Bharat Stage VI norm kicks in from 2020, for which testing agency ARAI is developing a unified test cycle.
The Automotive Research Association of India (ARAI) is devising ways to determine the on-road emission benchmarks in the wake of the Volkswagen emission cheating scandal of 2015.
In 2015, Heavy Industries Ministry had said ARAI would conduct checks on emission levels of diesel passenger vehicles.

NITI Aayog has estimated a growth rate of 8% for 2016-17 as per a ‘cautiously optimistic’ prognosis it has laid out in the appraisal document for the Twelfth Five-Year Plan.
Flagging the lack of reforms in land acquisition, labour and simplification of administrative procedures as impediments to growth.
The review, however, does not take into account the impact of demonetisation.
The 12th Plan is the last five-year Plan and from 2017-18, the Centre would adopt a three-year action plan and a fifteen-year vision document.
NITI Aayogsaid the new action plan would be finalised in two months’ time and will also take into account the impact of demonetisation.
The government think-tank said caution was essential as reforms in areas such as skill development, infrastructure, labour laws and land acquisition are far from complete.
NITI Aayog stated that much needed to be done to spell out tax laws clearly so that future investors can assess their liabilities with reasonable certainty.
A key lacuna in the Indian growth story has been slow growth of manufacturers in general and labour-intensive manufacturing in particular. Sectors in which India lags behind are electronics, food processing, leather, and textiles and garments.

WB has cut its 2016-17 growth forecast for India to 7% from 7.6%, citing a slowdown in consumption and manufacturing due to demonetisation, an ongoing decline in private investment and credit constraints due to impaired bank balance sheets.
The Indian economy is, however, set to recover its momentum subsequently, with growth projected to accelerate to 7.6% in FY18 and further strengthen to 7.8% in FY20, according to the World Bank’s Global Economic Prospects.
“Unexpected ‘demonetisation’— the phasing out of large-denomination currency notes which were subsequently replaced with new ones — weighed on growth in the third quarter of FY2017,” the World Bank observed.
“Weak industrial production and manufacturing and services purchasing managers’ indexes (PMI), further suggest a set back to activity in the fourth quarter of FY2017.”
However, four key recent reforms could help growth rebound, the bank said.
These, it said, were the passage of the bankruptcy and insolvency code, the liberalisation of FDI norms across sectors, the passage of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) Amendment Bill, and the agreement between the government and the Reserve Bank of India on a monetary policy framework.
Demonetisation could still cause major problems in the short term, slowing reforms and affecting smaller economies such as Nepal and Bhutan that are dependent on the Indian economy.