Current Affairs for SSC CGL Exams - 12 October 2016

:: National ::

PM equates fight against terrorism with epic Ramayana

Equating the fight against terrorism to the slaying of Ravan by Ram in the epic Ramayana, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the occasion of Vijayadashami urged all “forces of humanity” to unite against terrorism, an “enemy of humanity.”
He also urged people to annihilate the “Ravan within us,” alluding to the social evils and parochial practices in the country.
On every Dussehra, the nation and people must assess the social evils they have eliminated, Mr. Modi said, addressing the Ramlila function at Aishbagh.
There was a need to not just “uproot terrorists” but those “giving them refuge and support” must also “not be forgiven,” the Prime Minister said.
Mr. Modi became the first premier to celebrate Ramlila outside Delhi, provoking opposition parties to accuse the BJP of politicising the festival in poll-bound Uttar Pradesh.
War may be necessary in certain circumstances and time, but “this land’s path is not of yudh but of Buddh,” he said. He stressed that Buddha’s path remained the country’s destination.
Mr. Modi also used motif of Sita’s honour to push through the idea of protecting the girl child.
He urged people to take inspiration from the message of Vijayadashmi and end all social evils, which he said existed as “different forms and scattered pieces of Ravan” in modern life.
“While burning Ravan we must also resolve to end all our social evils in a similar fashion. The Ravan within us must be destroyed.
We must eliminate our top 10 faults, all those things which bring down our lives; bad thoughts and ideas, and misconduct,” Mr. Modi said, listing casteism, communalism, illiteracy, corruption, illiteracy and superstition, as some of the issues haunting the nation.

India’s ties with Russia affected with Moscow’s military relations with Islamabad

India’s ties with Russia are likely to be affected if Moscow continues to expand military relations with Islamabad. Criticising Pakistan-Russia ties.
Indian Ambassador to Russia Pankaj Saran warned of “problems” ahead in bilateral ties, even as both sides planned a major summit on the sidelines of the upcoming Goa BRICS summit.
Mr. Saran’s comments mark the third occasion in less than a month when India officially conveyed unhappiness over the growing Pakistan-Russia ties after both countries held the first ever joint military exercise in Pakistan’s northwest.
India had expressed concern over the exercise with Pakistan during the 22nd India-Russia Inter-Governmental Commission (IRGC) that was held on September 13.
India is likely to take up the issue of terrorism at the BRICS summit, pushing the case for an international counter-terror convention.
However, Russian government think tank sources indicated that Russia may not be on the same page with India on Pakistan.

Thousands of Amur falcons arrive at Nagaland

Thousands of Amur falcons, small birds of prey that undertake one of the longest migrations, started arriving on October 7 in Wokha district in Nagaland and Tamenglong district of Manipur.
Most bird catchers have turned bird lovers, and the species is recognised as friends of the tribals. The falcons eat various insects, thus helping farmers.
The turnaround is a radical change from the past, when hundreds of trussed up Amur falcons would be on sale in village markets and towns, while some would be sold fried or smoked.
At just 150 grams, an Amur falcon, Falco amurensis is a small bird, the male mostly grey in colour, and the females having dark-streaked cream or orange underparts.
The species flies non-stop from Mongolia to northeast India covering 5,600 km in five days and nights, a small part of its 22,000 km circular migratory journey.
In Tamenglong, the tribals see the falcons as messengers of god, their arrival indicating a good year and a bountiful harvest.

:: International ::

Tension between China and US continues to grow

Beijing rapped Washington for its interventions in Asia, as tensions grow between the two powers over territorial disputes in the South China Sea and how to handle increasingly erratic North Korea.
Washington has conducted freedom of navigation operations close to artificial islands Beijing has built in the South China Sea.
They have also agreed to deploy a missile defence system in South Korea following repeated nuclear and missile tests by Beijing's ally Pyongyang.
China says it has rights to almost the entire region, while Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam, and Taiwan all have rival claims.
In July, an international tribunal said almost all of Beijing’s claims have no legal basis, a decision China attacked as biased and vowed to ignore.
Washington argues that China’s moves pose a challenge to freedom of navigation and has sought to challenge its claims by dispatching military ships and aircraft to the area.
China has also raised concerns over Washington and Seoul’s decision this summer to install a THAAD missile defence system in South Korea in response to growing worries about its northern neighbour's nuclear programme.

:: Business and Economy ::

Centre to consider approach to revitalise India’s retail and wholesale trade

The Centre may soon consider a three-pronged approach to revitalise India’s retail and wholesale trade.
This includes establishing a regulatory body for national internal trade (retail and wholesale), a comprehensive domestic trade policy and a Board for Internal Trade.
policy, ‘e-commerce entities providing marketplace shall not directly or indirectly influence the sale prices of goods or services and shall maintain level playing field.
Currently there is no single regulatory body or ministry for domestic trade — comprising mainly non-corporate small businesses providing employment to an estimated 460 million people.
There are about six crore such enterprises in the country with an annual turnover of around Rs.30 lakh crore.
CAIT, which has conducted 46 conferences across India in the last two months on creating awareness amongst the traders on Goods & Services Tax, has estimated that about 70 per cent of the country’s retail trade has not been linked to computers and digitised.
For a comprehensive policy, the government will take inputs from stakeholders such as e-tailers, brick and mortar traders, direct sellers, hawkers, self-help groups and digital technology providers, consumer associations, financial institutions as well as payment networks.
The proposed policy, aiming to generate employment, improve financial inclusion of small traders and ensure ease of doing business by eliminating multiplicity of approvals, will also be linked to the NDA government’s flagship initiatives such as Digital India, Skill India and Make In India.
As an immediate measure, a panel led by NITI Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant will soon take up these issues as well and will look into issues related to taxation and online pharmacies.

Centre formed a high-level committee to consolidate the regulation of pension products

The Finance Ministry has set up a high-level committee to consolidate the regulation of pension products that is currently being done by three different watchdogs including the insurance and stock market regulators.
While the Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA) was set up with the intent of regulating all pension products, insurers and mutual funds continue to sell pension products outside its watch, creating confusion among consumers looking to build a retirement nest egg.
The move to set up a panel was made after the issue was flagged at recent meetings of the Financial Stability and Development Council chaired by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley.
Pension products floated by insurance companies come under the purview of the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA) while those sold by mutual funds are overseen by the SEBI.
The Centre has “formed a committee to look into the issue of bringing these companies which are offering pension plans under the purview of PFRDA.
The amounts in question are sizeable. IRDA had Rs.3.9 lakh crore in pension, general annuity, and group superannuation funds, and Rs.22.5 lakh crore in unit-linked funds, some of which also have a pension component, as of March 31, 2015.
The two main pension plans operated by mutual funds regulated by SEBI — UTI and Franklin Templeton — manage about Rs.2,400 crore. The total corpus under the National Pension Scheme (NPS) is about Rs.1.45 lakh crore.
The committee to be formed by the Department of Financial Services, would have representatives from all financial sector regulators — SEBI, IRDA, RBI and PFRDA.

:: Sports ::

Jitu Rai wins Champion of Champions pistol award

Jitu Rai rejuvenated his shooting career by winning the Champion of Champions pistol award, and a cash prize of €5000 in the World Cup Final.
In the mixed knock-out competition meant only for the medallists in the World Cup Final, Jitu beat DamirMikec of Serbia 29.6 to 28.3 in the climax featuring three shots. Olympic champion Anna Korakaki finished third.
Shooters are eliminated after the first four shots, one each after every successive shot. The last two compete on a three-shot format.
The honour in the rifle event went to Sergey Kamenskiy of Russia who beat two-time Olympian Du Li of China 31.7 to 31.6. London Olympics champion Yi Siling of China took the third place.
Jitu Rai had earlier won the free pistol silver, but finished sixth in air pistol.