Current Affairs for SSC CGL Exams - 12 June 2017

::National::

GST council reduce tax rates on 66 items including cashew nuts, packaged foods

• The Goods and Services Tax (GST) Council decided to reduce tax rates on 66 items including cashew nuts, packaged foods such as sauces and pickles, agarbatti, insulin, school bags etc. 
• The Council has also reduced the tax rate on cinema tickets costing Rs. 100 or less.
• Finance Minister said that the tax rate on cashew nuts has been reduced to 5% from 12%, while the rate on sauces, pickles, mustard sauce, and other similar packaged foods has been reduced to 12% from the 18% earlier set.
• The rate on agarbatti has been reduced to 5% from 12%, and the same has been done for insulin. There will be no GST on children’s colouring books, while that on school bags has been reduced to 18% from 28%. 
• The rate on components that can only be used in tractors has been reduced to 18% from 28%. The Council will meet again on June 18 to discuss any pending issues, including the e-waybill rules and the rates on lotteries.
• The Council also decided to increase the limit under the compensation scheme from Rs. 50 lakh to Rs. 75 lakh. The scheme was introduced for small businesses that would struggle to comply with the various requirements of GST.
• Those opting for the scheme will have to pay tax at the rate of 1% for the trading community, 2% for those engaged in manufacturing, and 5% for restaurants, Mr. Jaitley said.
• There are two objectives behind this move. The first is to maintain revenue neutrality, and this also eases the burden on SMEs and small businesses in trading, manufacturing, and the restaurant business because they are mass job creators.

The amount of rainfall in the Earth’s tropical regions will significantly increase

• The amount of rainfall in the Earth’s tropical regions will significantly increase as our planet continues to warm, a new NASA study warns.
• Most global climate models underestimate decreases in high clouds over the tropics seen in recent NASA observations, according to research led by scientist Hui Su of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in the U.S.
• Globally, rainfall is not related just to the clouds that are available to make rain but also to the Earth’s “energy budget” — incoming energy from the Sun compared to outgoing heat energy.
• High-altitude tropical clouds trap heat in the atmosphere. If there are fewer of these clouds in the future, the tropical atmosphere will cool. 
• Judging from observed changes in clouds over recent decades, it appears that the atmosphere would create fewer high clouds in response to surface warming. 
• It would increase tropical rainfall, which would warm the air to balance the cooling from high cloud shrinkage.
• Rainfall warming the air also sounds counterintuitive — people are used to rain cooling the air around them, not warming it. Several kilometres up in the atmosphere, however, a different process prevails. 

Launch of the world’s largest floating solar farm

• As the United States was withdrawing from the Paris climate pact, China’s clean energy ambitions were being reflected in the launch of the world’s largest floating solar farm.
• The 40-megawatt power plant has 1,60,000 panels resting on a lake that emerged after the collapse of a coal mine in central Anhui province. 
• It is part of Beijing’s effort to wean itself off a fossil fuel dependency that has made it the world’s top carbon emitter, with two-thirds of its electricity still fuelled by coal.
• The solar facility went online around the time of President Donald Trump’s much-criticised June 2 decision to withdraw from the international accord aimed at saving the planet from climate change catastrophe.
• His move shifted the spotlight onto China and whether it will take on the leadership mantle in the fight against global warming.
• The Beijing forum also put a spotlight on efforts taken by Chinese authorities and companies to develop renewable energy.
• It has been the world’s largest investor in clean energy since 2012, spending $88 billion on wind and solar power last year.

Nobel Peace Laureate Kailash Satyarthisupported the new framework

• Nobel Peace Laureate Kailash Satyarthi, who had earlier criticised the new child labour law, has supported the new framework, saying the fresh rules to support the law have addressed all the concerns.
• Various child rights activists, including Mr. Satyarthi, had earlier criticised the law, enacted in July last year, for reducing the number of hazardous occupations from 83 to three and allowing children to assist in family enterprises. 
• Even international agencies such as the International Labour Organisation (ILO) and the United Nations Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) had criticised the government over the two concerns flagged by the Nobel laureate.
• The 2016 law prohibits employment of children aged below 14. However, it allows adolescents (aged 14-18) to work in non-hazardous occupations and children to assist their families in businesses after school hours. 
• The previous law allowed children to be employed in family enterprises without restriction.
• The Labour and Employment Ministry on June 2 notified the Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Rules, 2017, which state that children can help in family enterprises only for three hours after school hours.
• Children could not extend any help between 7 p.m. and 8 a.m. It also laid out conditions on which children could offer help to their families.
• Mr. Satyarthi lauded the government’s move to ratify the International Labour Organisation (ILO) Conventions on child labour. This would ensure compliance with the new law.

::India and World:: 

India and Israel celebrate 25 years of their diplomatic relations

• As India and Israel celebrate 25 years of their diplomatic relations, Tel Aviv has quietly emerged as one of the largest and trusted suppliers of defence equipment to the Indian armed forces, which rely heavily on imports.
• After protracted negotiations, the two countries are close to concluding a deal for Spike Anti-Tank Guided Missiles. This will be the latest in a series of big-ticket defence deals approved recently. 
• The purchase of Spike missiles was approved by the Defence Acquisition Council (DAC) in October 2014, but negotiations on the contract ran into trouble over cost and technology transfer. 
• The Rs. 3,200-crore deal includes 8,000-plus missiles, 300-plus launchers and technology transfer. The deal is likely to expand as the Army intends to equip its 382 infantry battalions and 44 mechanised regiments with new missiles.
• After New Delhi established full diplomatic ties with Tel Aviv on January 29, 1992, Israel has made inroads into the Indian defence sector, earning praise for reliability and technological sophistication. 
• It is well entrenched in the areas of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles, air defence systems, special forces equipment and electronic warfare equipment.
• Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) approved a Rs. 17,000-crore deal to jointly develop a Medium Range Surface to Air Missile (MR-SAM) system for the Army.

::Business and Economy::

India still charting its strategy post Trump election 

• The U.S. is the nation that Narendra Modi has visited the most as the Prime Minister – four times so far. Mr. Modi will soon top this up with another tour — likely later this month, which will be his first after Donald Trump became the U.S. President.
• This signifies the importance attached to the New Delhi-Washington ties in the NDA Government’s foreign policy priorities.
• According to the joint statement during Mr. Modi’s first visit to the U.S. in September 2014, two-way trade had risen five-fold since 2001 to about $100 billion. It had also said necessary action will be taken to increase this to $500 billion.
• However, since Mr. Modi’s fourth visit to the U.S. in June 2016 during the presidency of Barack Obama, much has changed in terms of Washington’s policy and outlook, generally, on trade.
• Mr. Trump signed a memorandum in January 2017 directing the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) to “withdraw the U.S. as a signatory to the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), to permanently withdraw the U.S. from TPP negotiations.”
• The TPP is a mega-regional trade agreement that was inked by 12 nations, including the U.S., during the previous administration.
• The memorandum signed by Mr. Trump also directed the USTR to “begin pursuing, wherever possible, bilateral trade negotiations to promote American industry, protect American workers, and raise American wages.”
• In 2016, India was neither a ‘top import country’ nor a ‘top export country’ for any of the U.S. States despite the U.S. being India’s top export destination and second-largest source of imports. 

Good monsoon can bring cheers to Indian Economy 

• Earlier this year, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) had predicted the country would get normal monsoon rains in 2017. 
• The state-run weather body last week said India’s annual monsoon rainfall is expected to be 98% of the long-period average (LPA), up from 96% projected earlier, raising prospects of higher farm output and economic growth.
• The forecast has a margin error of 4%. The monsoon is considered normal if rains in the June-September season are between 96% and 104% of a 50-year average of 89 cm.
• The monsoon is the lifeblood for India’s farm-dependent $2 trillion economy, as at least half the farmlands are rain-fed. 
• The country gets about 70% of annual rainfall in the June-September monsoon season, making it crucial for an estimated 263 million farmers.
• The monsoon rains arrive on the southern tip of Kerala by around June 1 and gradually covers a major part of the country by mid-July before retreating by the end of September. 
• The IMD has predicted seasonal rainfall this year to be 96% of LPA over north-west India, and 100% of LPA over central India.
• Rains in the southern regions are likely to be 99% of LPA while precipitation in north-east India will be 96% of LPA in the four-month period. All projections have a margin error of 8%.
• Rainfall in July and August, crucial months for crop sowing, over the country is expected to be 96% and 99% of LPA, respectively, both with a margin error of 9%.
• India Ratings said the spread of monsoon over space and time is also forecast to be normal and that bodes well for agricultural output.

Commerce Ministry is expected to provide incentives to boost exports

• With exporters raising concerns over the issue of working capital under the upcoming GST regime.
• The Commerce Ministry is expected to provide incentives such as enhanced interest subsidy to sectors like agricultural commodities to boost exports. 
• The Federation of Indian Export Organisations too said the cost of liquidity is high and the government should look to reduce that. 

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