Current Affairs for SSC CGL Exams - 13 February 2017

:: National ::

National Women’s Parliament ended

The three-day National Women’s Parliament (NWP) ended on a lacklustre note, with the meet postponing the adoption of the much-hyped Amaravati Declaration.
The NWP did not present the widely publicised International Woman Icon and 12 best ‘young achievers’ awards either.
Worse, thousands of girl students who participated in the three-day event were not given even the Certificate of Participation. This left them utterly disappointed on the concluding day of the conclave.
At the valedictory, an official read out a cursory list of the issues that had come up for discussion.
They included age of marriage for women, nutrition and malnutrition-related problems, poor sanitation in schools, social development, equal access to resources and digital literacy.

President drawing less salary than a Joint Secretary in the Government of India

For over six months now, President Pranab Mukherjee has been drawing less salary than a Joint Secretary in the Government of India as a proposal to increase the salaries of the President, the Vice-President is in PMO.
The Home Ministry had proposed a 70% increase in the salary of the President from the current Rs. 1.5 lakh to Rs. 5 lakh per month. Similarly for the VP, the proposal was to increase the salary from Rs. 1.1 lakh to Rs. 3.5 lakh per month.
The boost in salary is commensurate with the recommendations of the Seventh Pay Commission, implemented last year.
The Commission gave its report to the government in 2016 and proposed an average increase of 14% in salaries of all government employees. The Commission submits its report once every 10 years.
The delay in processing the proposal could be due to a taking decision on a similar proposal to hike the salaries of parliamentarians — as recommended by a joint committee on salaries and allowances of members of Parliament.
The committee headed by BJP MP Yogi Adityanath had recommended a hike in salary of the MPs from current Rs. 1.4 lakh a month to Rs. 2.8 lakh a month.

Naxalite groups continue to be “lethal and resolute” in using IEDs

Naxalite groups continue to be “lethal and resolute” in terms of using improvised explosive devices (IEDs) and other technology devices to perpetrate bloodshed and have caused maximum deaths of security personnel and civilians last year.
According to a report prepared by the National Bomb Data Centre (NBDC) of the federal counter-terror force NSG, there was a 26% increase in IED blast incidents in 2016 as compared to 2015 and human causalities have increased by 3% in the same period.
As many as 112 deaths due to explosive blasts were reported in the country last year, with the maximum of 73 coming from the LWE theatre, 14 from the northeast, five from J&K and 20 from the rest of the country.
A total of 337 blasts of various kinds, including IEDs and other bombs, were reported last year that injured 479 people across the country, the report said, adding the corresponding figure for 2015 was 268 and 457, respectively.
The report also reveals that in 2016, 83% of all IED blasts were triggered by the Naxals and other ultras using “high explosives,” which is a cause for concern.
The NBDC of the National Security Guard (NSG), which is the nodal post-blasts investigation organisation of the country, assessed that “high explosives are the most preferred form of explosives used by the Maoists/insurgents/extremists to inflict heavy casualties on the targeted people/security forces or properties.”

The Bajaj Committee for Krishna River Management Board starts working

The Bajaj Committee, for preparing a working manual along with an operational protocol for sharing Krishna river water between Telangana and Andhra Pradesh, will hold a series of meetings with officials of the two States.
Headed by former chairman of the Central Water Commission (CWC) A.K. Bajaj, the committee would hold a meeting with Irrigation Department officials of Telangana.
The State government was expected to argue for installation of telemetry equipment at all points from where A.P. was drawing (tapping) water from the river and also at Pattiseema and Polaram project sites from where the Godavari water was being diverted to the Krishna basin.
Besides Mr. Bajaj, the committee comprises Gopala Krishnan, R.P. Pandey, Pradeep Kumar Shukla, and N.N. Rai.

PM told ministers to furnish travel records

Prime Minister has asked his ministerial colleagues to give details of tours, if any, undertaken by them during the last three months, an exercise aimed at ascertaining whether they promoted demonetisation and other initiatives.
Mr. Modi is learnt to have given the directive at a recent Cabinet meeting, sources said. They have been asked to submit the details.
Minister for Rural Development Narendra Singh Tomar has been directed to coordinate with the Ministries for this task.
The exercise is also aimed at knowing if they were balancing office work and field duties.

:: International ::

Hollywood musical La La Land leads the nominations for Britain’s Bafta awards

Fresh from victory at the Golden Globes, Hollywood musical La La Land leads the nominations for Britain’s Bafta awards, which are seen as a good indicator for future Oscar triumphs.
Damien Chazelle’s poetic love story has 11 nominations, including Best Film, Best Actor for Ryan Gosling and Best Actress for Emma Stone.
Chazelle, Gosling and Stone are all expected at the ceremony along with a clutch of stars including Amy Adams, Casey Affleck, Emily Blunt and Nicole Kidman.
Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling will also be there as the spin-off film Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them is nominated for Outstanding British Film.
Sci-fi film Arrival and psychological thriller Nocturnal Animals , both starring Amy Adams, come second in the nomination ranks with nine each. Manchester by the Sea is in fourth place with six nominations, including best actor for Affleck.
Meryl Streep is nominated for best actress for Florence Foster Jenkins, a tragi-comedy about a wealthy U.S. socialite.

:: Business and Economy ::

India’s future trade model would be formulated by Commerce Department

India’s future trade (policy) model should have the Commerce Department at the helm, supported by ministries including External Affairs and Finance.
While a ‘transformed’ Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) should be the apex body for all trade promotion activities for the country, according to a government-commissioned report.
India’s foreign trade strategy and policy is currently being piloted predominantly by the Prime Minister’s Office and External Affairs Ministry.
The report also makes a strong case for a higher profile for the Indian Trade Service (ITS) in matters of trade policies & systems.
At present, the officials belonging to the Indian Administrative Service, Foreign Service and Revenue Service evidently have a relatively superior role over ITS cadre regarding decisions on crucial trade policy matters.
The Frost & Sullivan report advocated that “the operational implementation of the Foreign Trade Policy (FTP) should reside with the department of commerce providing the trade community one single entity to deal with.”
The FTP should be considered a “dynamic document,” according to the report. It added that any change necessitated with respect to the ongoing requirements must be approved by the (commerce) departmental arm responsible for policymaking.
Noting that the DGFT needs to re-skill its resources to be successful, the report said: “Future recruitment should focus on professionals with experience and qualifications in trade and commerce from reputed institutions.”
The report comes at a time when India’s goods exports have not yet recovered fully from the impact of a prolonged contraction from December 2014 to May 2016, as well as the government’s demonetisation exercise early November.
“For an improvement in India’s performance on the ease of doing business and ‘trading across borders– it is imperative to deploy digital technology to transform the experience of doing trade in the country,” according to the report.

The government plans to come out with ‘Indradhanush 2.0’

The government plans to come out with ‘Indradhanush 2.0’, a comprehensive plan for recapitalisation of public sector lenders, with a view to make sure they remain solvent and fully comply with the global capital adequacy norms, Basel-III.
‘Indradhanush 2.0’ will be finalised after completion of the Asset Quality Review (AQR) by the Reserve Bank, The review is likely to be completed by March-end.
The RBI had embarked on the AQR exercise from December 2015 and had asked banks to recognise some top defaulting accounts as non-performing assets (NPAs) and make adequate provisions for them.
It has had a debilitating impact on banks’ numbers and their stocks. The central bank has set a deadline of March 2017 to complete the AQR exercise.
Under ‘Indradhanush’ roadmap announced in 2015, the government had announced an infusion of Rs. 70,000 crore in state-run banks over four years while they will have to raise a further Rs. 1.1 lakh crore from the markets to meet their capital requirement in line with global risk norms, known as Basel-III.
In line with the plan, public sector banks were given Rs. 25,000 crore in 2015-16, and a similar amount has been earmarked for the current fiscal. Besides, Rs. 10,000 crore each would be infused in 2017-18 and 2018-19.
The government has already announced fund infusion of Rs. 22,915 crore, out of the Rs. 25,000 crore earmarked for 13 PSBs for the current fiscal. Of this, 75% has already been released to them.

Centre targeting big investment in start-ups of electronic sector

The Centre is targeting an investment of about Rs. 2,200 crore by 2019 in start-ups working on new technologies in the electronic sector under the Electronics Development Fund (EDF).
The EDF is a ‘fund of funds’ that works with venture capitalists to create funds, known as ‘daughter funds,’ which provide risk capital to companies developing new technologies in the area of electronics, nano-electronics and IT.
The EDF would put in 10% of the capital in ‘daughter funds’ and the rest would be invested by venture capitalists.
Hence, a targeted investment of Rs. 2,200 crore by the government will help mobilise Rs. 22,000 crore for the ‘daughter funds,’ which will then invest primarily in start-ups.
She said that the results had been very encouraging as, in one year, the government had been able to mobilise Rs. 6,870 crore, of which the government’s share has been Rs. 687 crore.

:: Sports ::

Ashwin quickest to reach 250 wickets

R. Ashwin became the quickest to bag 250 wickets when he claimed Bangladesh captain Mushfiqur Rahim on Day 4 of the India-Bangladesh test in Hyderabad.
He broke Australian Dennis Lillee’s record.