Current Affairs for SSC CGL Exams - 14 April 2017

:: National ::

Islamic State tunnel complex in eastern Afghanistan had been hit by US

Army Gen. John W. Nicholson, commander of U.S. forces in Afghanistan, said in a written statement that an Islamic State tunnel complex in eastern Afghanistan had been hit with “the mother of all bombs.”
The U.S. dropped a massive GBU-43 bomb, the largest non-nuclear bomb it has ever used in combat, in eastern Afghanistan on a series of caves used by Islamic State militants, the military said.
Also known as the “mother of all bombs,” the GBU-43 is a 21,600 pound 9,797 kg GPS-guided munition, and was first tested in March 2003.
He said the strike was designed to minimize the risk to Afghan and U.S. forces conducting clearing operations in the Achin area, close to the Pakistan border “while maximizing the destruction” of IS fighters and facilities.
He said IS has been using improvised explosive devices, bunkers and tunnels to strengthen its defences.
White House spokesman Sean Spicer opened his daily news briefing with the use of the bomb.
“The U.S. takes the fight against ISIS very seriously and to defeat the group, we must deny them operational space, which we did,” he said.

Citizens have the right to access the Internet to gain information says SC

Citizens have the right to access the Internet to gain information, wisdom and knowledge and their right cannot be curtailed unless it encroaches into the boundary of illegality, the Supreme Court observed.
Calling the Internet a “virtual world” and a “world which is invisible in a way,” the Supreme Court observed that the fundamental right of expression includes “the right to be informed and the right to know.
The court clarified that a general prohibition on all online content about pre-natal sex determination will curtail the fundamental right to know of a genuine information-seeker.
Prohibition should kick in only if the content found online is violative of Section 22 (prohibition of advertisement relating to pre-natal determination of sex) under the PCPNDT Act of 1994.
The Centre, represented by Solicitor-General Ranjit Kumar, said the prohibition under Section 22 should be only on paid ads for sex determination or online advertisements masquerading as information.
The three Internet search engines — Microsoft, Google India and Yahoo! India — gave their assurances to the Supreme Court that they would neither advertise nor sponsor advertisements violative of the PNPCDT Act.
In case the nodal officers detect illegal online content, they would communicate with the search engine’s experts, which would take it off within the next 36 hours of receiving the information.
These experts would then follow it up by providing the nodal officers concerned with an action taken report.

India and France will step up negotiations to expand the Scorpene submarine

India and France will step up negotiations to expand the Scorpene submarine contract after the presidential elections in France in May.
India will push for incorporating several upgrades in the proposed three new submarines that the two sides would be discussing.
Mazgaon Docks Ltd. (MDL), Mumbai, is manufacturing six Scorpene conventional submarines with technology transfer from DCNS under a $3.75-billion deal signed in October 2005.
After a series of delays, the first submarine Kalvari is now in advanced stages of sea trials and expected to be commissioned in a few months. The second submarine Khanderi was launched in January.
As per plan, all submarines are expected to be launched from MDL by 2020 and both sides are on to firm up a deal before that to keep the production line running and preserve the expertise.
The upgrades will help address concerns of any compromise in the submarine’s capability following the leak of its technical specifications in Australia last year.

:: International ::

Russia vetoed a U.N. resolution condeming Syria

Russia vetoed a U.N. resolution that would have condemned the reported use of chemical weapons in a town in northern Syria and demanded a speedy investigation.
The vote on the Security Council resolution drafted by Britain, France and the United States was 10 in favour, Russia and Bolivia against, and China, Kazakhstan and Ethiopia abstaining.
It was the eighth veto by Russia, a close ally of Syrian President Bashar Assad, on a Western-backed Syria resolution and reflected the division that has left the UN body struggling to tackle the use of banned chemical weapons.

US President changes his stand on NATO

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), the military alliance of the U.S., Canada, 25 European countries and Turkey, is the “the bulwark of international peace and security”, President Donald Trump said.
“I said it’s obsolete. Now it’s no longer obsolete,” Mr. Trump said, overturning a campaign position that drew intense criticism from Democrats and Republicans.
Mr. Trump has also reversed his positions on China, Syria and Russia in recent days, aligning his thinking closer to U.S. orthodoxy.
The President’s supporters point out that because of his tough stance, partner countries have committed more spending and the alliance is reorienting itself towards fighting the Islamic State.
NATO has been involved in the war on terror for long, however. The only time the alliance has invoked its principle that an attack on one is an attack on all was after the September 11, 2001 terror attack on the U.S. NATO has recently started training Iraqi troops to combat the IS.
Member countries have also expressed willingness to increase defence spending. Only five of the 28 members now meet the target of 2% of GDP on defence expenditure.

:: Business and Economy ::

President granted his assent to the four enabling laws to GST

President Pranab Mukherjee granted his assent to the four enabling laws to operationalise the upcoming Goods and Services Tax regime.
The indirect tax regime, expected to be rolled out from July 1, now awaits the passage of the State GST laws by all state assemblies.
The legislations approved by the President include the Central GST Act, The Integrated GST Act, The GST (Compensation to States) Act, and The Union Territory GST Act, 2017.
These bills were passed in Rajya Sabha on April 6 and by Lok Sabha on March 29.

RBI come out with a revised prompt corrective action framework for banks

RBI has come out with a revised prompt corrective action (PCA) framework for banks, spelling out certain thresholds, the breach of which could invite resolutions such as a merger with another bank or even shutting down of the bank.
The revised norms have set out three thresholds. The breach of the third one on capital “would identify a bank as a likely candidate for resolution through tools like amalgamation, reconstruction, winding up etc.,” the RBI said.
The provisions of the revised PCA framework will be effective from April 1, 2017 based on the financials of the banks for the year ended March 31, 2017. The framework would be reviewed after three years, the RBI said.
The thresholds are based on capital, net non-performing assets, profitability and leverage ratio.The breach of the first threshold will invite restriction on dividend distribution or require parents of foreign banks to bring in more capital.
This will get triggered if capital adequacy ratio (including capital conservation buffer) falls below 10.25% or common equity tier-I (CET1) capital ratio falls below 6.75%.
Breach of either CAR or CET1 would trigger corrective action, the RBI said. The trigger for net NPA is 6% and 4% for leverage ratio. Two consecutive years of negative return on assets (RoA) will also be classified in threshold one.
The breach of the second threshold will occur when the capital adequacy ratio falls below 7.75% or CET1 goes below 5.125%. The net NPA threshold is breach of 12% and leverage ratio below 3.5%.
Three consecutive years of negative ROA will also trigger threshold two. Breach of threshold two will result in restrictions on expansion of branches and higher provisions.
Corrective action that can be imposed on banks includes special audit, restructuring operations and activation of recovery plan.
The RBI has said that promoters of banks can be asked to bring in new management, or even can supersede the bank’s board, as a part of corrective action.

The country’s goods exports rose for the seventh consecutive month

The country’s goods exports rose for the seventh consecutive month, recording a 27.6% year-on-year growth in March to $29.2 billion thanks to a low base as well as a robust performance by major sectors including petroleum products.
In March, petroleum products grew 69.1% to $3.7 billion, while engineering goods went up by 47% to $7.8 billion and gems & jewellery shipments rose 12.5% to $4.1 billion.
Meanwhile, goods imports in March also recorded 45.25% growth to $39.6 billion resulting in trade deficit widening to $10.4 billion — the highest since November 2016 when it was $12.6 billion. Oil imports also rose 101.4% to $9.7 billion in the period.
Goods exports during the entire 2016-17 were $274.64 billion — recording a growth of 4.71%, while imports shrank 0.17% to $380.36 billion. This resulted in a trade deficit of $105.7 billion in FY17, wider than $118.7 billion in FY’16.
The World Trade Organisation said it was forecasting a 2.4% growth in global trade in 2017. For 2018, the WTO is forecasting global trade growth between 2.1% and 4%.
It added, however, that as deep uncertainty about near-term economic and policy developments raise the forecast risk, this figure is placed within a range of 1.8% to 3.6%.