Current Affairs for SSC CGL Exams - 15 September 2016

:: National ::

India again rebuffed UN OHCHR’s reference to Jammu and Kashmir

In another sharp rebuff to the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights’ reference to Jammu and Kashmir, India said it was concerned at the “persisting ambiguities” in the UN body’s governance.
India also asserted the violence in the State was “choreographed” from across the border.
India also emphasised that it has shared evidence of terrorists who came across the border with instructions to target the security forces by mingling with protesting crowds and using them as human shields.
India in its statement said, “We have noted the reference in the High Commissioner’s statement to the situation in the Indian State of Jammu and Kashmir”.

Prime Minister NarendraModi will celebrate his 66th birthday with tribals in Limkheda

Prime Minister NarendraModi will celebrate his 66th birthday with tribals in Limkheda and the differently-abled in Navsari after meeting his mother in Gandhinagar on Saturday.
This will be Mr. Modi’s second visit to Gujarat in three weeks. Earlier, he was in the State to open the first phase of an ambitious irrigation scheme in the water-starved Narmada region.
Meanwhile, the State BJP unit has announced that it would hold health check-up, blood donation and awareness camps on the occasion of the Prime Minister’s birthday.

Centre counters SC’s reason for vacancies in the courts

The High Courts have, by and large, delayed starting the judicial appointments. The delay on the High Courts’ part is not just a case of months, but these are five-year and six-year vacancies,” Attorney-General MukulRohatgi submitted before a Bench.
With this, the Centre countered Chief Justice Thakur’s threat that the Supreme Court would be “forced” to take judicial notice of the government’s lack of interest in seeing a robust judiciary.
Chief Justice Thakur bluntly asked the government whether it was trying to bring the entire judicial institution to a “grinding halt” by sitting on recommendations of the Supreme Court Collegium on appointment and transfer of judges to High Courts.
The apex court ordered the Centre to furnish a complete report on the status of 74 names the Collegium had recommended for High Court judgeships.
Attorney-General hinted that the Chief Justice of India should look within the institution and not the government to discover the root cause of delayed judicial appointments.
Numbers of vacancies in the High Courts have mounted to 485 — over 45 per cent of the total sanctioned strength of 1,079.
The process of judicial appointments to the High Court is kick-started by High Court Collegiums, which shortlists the names for judgeship and forwards them to the Centre.
The latter refers the list to the Supreme Court Collegium, which makes the final selection and returns it to the government for the necessary background checks.

India is likely to offer Nepal help in building an east-west railway line

India is likely to offer Nepal’s new Prime Minister help in building an east-west railway line and better access to its ports on his first visit this week, as it tries to regain ground lost recently to China.
Pusp Kumar Dahal, or Prachanda, a former Maoist rebel commander, has chosen New Delhi as his first foreign stop, seeking to rebalance ties that chilled under his pro-China predecessor.
Nepal has yet to complete a political transition after a decade-long insurgency and weeks of deadly street protests that brought down the monarchy nearly a decade ago.
A new republican constitution is still a source of rancour for southern plains people who mounted a five-month border blockade that ended earlier this year.
The country’s last government said the fuel and trade embargo had the tacit backing of India — a charge New Delhi has denied.
An Indian railway official said the project that runs parallel to Nepal’s 1,030 km east-west highway has been talked about in the past, but that the two countries are now discussing financial terms.

:: International ::

China wants the BRICS grouping to acquire a larger security dimension

China has signalled that it wants the Brazil-Russia-India-China-South Africa (BRICS) grouping to acquire a larger security dimension.
Meeting of the national security advisers of the five emerging countries will happen in New Delhi. The National Security Adviser AjitDoval would be hosting the meeting that starts on 15thseptember.
Participants will discuss counter-terrorism, cyber-security, energy security, situation in West Asia and North Africa as well as other international and regional issues of common interest.
BRICS countries are expected to converge on a common approach of battling the Islamic State, in its breeding grounds in Syria, Iraq and its permeation in other parts of the world including South Asia and China’s Xinjiang province.
Terrorism emanating from the Afghanistan-Pakistan zone is also expected to be high on the agenda.
The Moscow-Beijing dialogue coincided with the ongoing joint naval exercises by the two countries in the South China Sea.
Sino-Indian ties appear to have been rebooted following talks between Prime Minister NarendraModi and Chinese President Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the G-20 summit in Hangzhou earlier this month.

:: Business and Economy ::

Govt. to discuss the proposed labour code on wages and the Small Factories Bill

A group of central ministers led by Finance Minister ArunJaitley will meet Thursday to discuss the proposed labour code on wages and the Small Factories Bill, barely two weeks after trade unions led a nationwide strike.
Mr. Dattatreya said the code on wages will be taken up for discussion in the winter session of Parliament to be held later this year.
The central trade unions went on a one-day nationwide strike on September 2 to press for their charter of demands that include higher minimum wages, pensions, social security for unorganised workers, and to oppose labour reforms.
The proposed labour code on wages empowers the Centre to fix a minimum wage applicable across all sectors in all states. At present, while the Centre can fix a minimum wage level only for central public sector units, States can fix their own minimum wage for workers in private factories.
The draft code, which combines four Central laws – the Minimum Wages Act, 1948, the Payment of Wages Act, 1936, the Payment of Bonus Act, 1965 and the Equal Remuneration Act, 1976, also streamlines the definition of wages.
The Small Factories Bill has been proposed as a separate set of labour laws for factories with less than 40 workers.
Mr. Dattatreya also said the Industrial Relations Bill, which makes it easier for companies to retrench workers, has been sent to the Union Cabinet for its consideration.
It will allow companies with staff of 300 to retrench workers without government permission, up from the present requirement of up to 100 workers.

Manufacturing sector leads WPI to a two-year high of 3.74 per cent

Wholesale price inflation accelerated to a two-year high of 3.74 per cent in August, driven mainly by a gradual increase in manufacturing sector prices.
While inflation as measured by the Wholesale Price Index accelerated from the 3.55 per cent seen in July, consumer price inflation for the period slowed by a percentage point to come in at 5.05 per cent in August.
Looking ahead, the expert view is while increasing consumer demand and more purchasing power in consumers’ hands will push manufacturing inflation higher, good monsoon and increased sowing will dampen food prices.
Inflation in primary articles category slowed to 7.5 per cent in August from the 9.4 per cent seen in the previous month.
Within this, while food inflation slowed to 8.23 per cent, that of the non-food category came in at 8.44 per cent in August from 9.5 per cent in July.
Inflation in the fuel and power segment of the WPI came in at 1.6 per cent in August compared to a contraction of one per cent seen in July.
However, easing food prices may be offset by an upward movement in the manufacturing sector.

:: Sports ::

Javelin thrower DevendraJhajharia scripted history

Javelin thrower DevendraJhajharia scripted history by becoming the first Indian to clinch two gold medals at the Paralympics after he broke his own world record to clinch top honours at the ongoing Games.
Competing in the F46 category, the 36-year-old, who won at the 2004 Athens Games, threw the javelin to a distance of 63.97m and bettered his 62.15m achieved in Athens.
Jhajharia, won gold (2013) and silver (2015) at the International Paralympic Committee’s World Championships with record throws and a silver at the 2014 Asian Para Games.
The Rajasthan-born Jhajharia had lost his left hand when he was electrocuted while climbing a tree as an eight-year-old. Jhajharia was given the theArjuna Award in 2004 and conferred the Padma Shri in 2012, the first Paralympian to receive the honour.
Currently ranked third in the world, Jhajharia has swelled India’s medal tally at Rio to four medals — two golds, one silver and a bronze.
“Congratulations to DevendraJhajharia for the historic and well-deserved Gold at the #Paralympics. We are very proud of him. #Rio2016,” Prime Minister NarendraModi tweeted.