Current Affairs for SSC CGL Exams - 16 April 2017

:: National ::

DST will be leading a Rs. 2,000-crore initiative to encourage more girls and women

The Department of Science and Technology will be leading a Rs. 2,000-crore initiative to encourage more girls and women to take up careers in the domain of science and engineering, where they are under-represented.
A pilot programme covering 100,000 girls and women, from school-going children to those interested in research, will be launched later this year.
Studies have found that when compared to the U.S., European Union, and several Asian countries, India fared reasonably well when it comes to enrolment of women in science and engineering, which stood at around 35%.
But the proportion of women in the science and engineering workforce was an abysmal 12%.
The current initiative, ‘Vigyan Jyoti’, envisages 500 contractual faculty positions for five years in universities and research organisations, and special scholarships for school girls.
Alongside mentoring, there would be a concerted effort to expose them to more areas of science and engineering, present role-models to inspire them, and conduct counselling sessions for parents and teachers.
The proposal is a key part of a report, Vigyan 2030: Science and Technology as the Pivot for Jobs, Opportunities and National Transformation, submitted by the secretaries of all Central science departments. Presented to PM.

GST to effect the citizens in many ways

GST will replace the myriad local, State-level and Central taxes that are built into the price you pay for products, and the service tax as well as cesses that are dovetailed to your outgoes when you dine at a restaurant or pay your mobile phone bills.
India may be a $2-trillion-plus economy with a large, booming domestic market, but is a nightmare for compliant businesses, thanks to multiple Central and State-level indirect taxes, such as sales tax, excise duty, Central VAT and State VAT.
The alphabet soup of taxes, differing regulations across 29 States, and difficulties in inter-State trade which often involve hours of highway snarls at border checkpoints.
This is to collect octroi and check documents, are a recipe for inefficiency and a proven incentive for tax evasion by sticking to the informal sector.
As a single tax that would replace all such duties and cesses, the GST will make India a unified market with a common tax structure, instead of 29 fractured markets.
One last thing worth noting: petroleum products and alcohol are being kept out of the GST net for now.
Nine years after the Indian economy was opened up in 1991, the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government first floated the idea of a simple, transparent and efficient GST regime to substitute the multiple Central and State taxes and cesses.
But, like several critical (and often inevitable) reforms in India, the GST took a tortuously long route to reach the cusp of reality — a route marred by resistance, flip-flops and political expediency.
Co-operative governance body called the GST Council, with representatives from the States and the Centre, has thrashed out the nitty-gritty of the new regime, including five rate slabs (zero, 5%, 12%, 18% and 28%).
Also an additional cess on top of the highest GST rate on sin goods, such as luxury cars and tobacco.
Unlike income tax, which just a small segment of India’s mammoth 1.3 billion-plus population end up paying, including the poorest of the poor, pay indirect taxes on products and services.
Besides improving tax compliance from traders, the GST regime is expected to boost economic growth by a percentage point or two, despite the risk of an initial blip, the government and industry bodies reckon.
Investors, often put off by India’s complex taxation structure, should find it easier and more attractive to do business in the country and create an important by-product for India’s fast-growing, young workforce — jobs.

Shia community wants AIMPLB to keep in mind the Quran, Shariyat and humanity

The Shia community appealed the All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB) to keep in mind the Quran, Shariyat and humanity before arriving at any decision on the contentious issue of triple talaq.
The Ayodhya dispute and triple talaq are expected to dominate the agenda of the two-day meeting of the Board, which will begin shortly at Nadwatul Ulama here.
“If triple talaq is a part of Shariat law, it should have been implemented then itself. The need of the hour is to implement the system which was in place during the days of the Prophet,” he said.
“The information pertaining to triple talaq is harming the image of Islam. When the Sunnis are of the view that triple talaq is being misused, the practice must cease to exist,” he said.

:: International ::

Mother of all bombs did huge damage to the IS

Afghan authorities reported a jump in fatalities from the American military’s largest non-nuclear bomb, declaring some 90 Islamic State fighters dead, as U.S.-led ground forces advanced on their mountain hideouts.
Dubbed the ‘Mother Of All Bombs’, the GBU-43/B Massive Ordnance Air Blast was unleashed in combat for the first time, hitting IS positions in a remote area of eastern Nangarhar province.
The bomb smashed the terrorist organisation’s hideouts, a tunnel-and-cave complex that had been mined against conventional ground attacks, engulfing the remote area in a huge mushroom cloud and towering flames.
Mr. Shinwari said American and Afghan ground forces were slowly advancing on the mountainous area blanketed with landmines, but there were still some pockets of resistance from insurgents.
Security experts say IS had built their hideouts close to civilian homes, but the government said thousands of local families had already fled the area in recent months of fighting.

:: Business and Economy ::

Strong rupee keeping checks on gold prices

The gold fever is back. The yellow metal prices have been climbing over the last few weeks, spurred by the ongoing tensions in North Korea.
Trump’s concern over the strong dollar, which took some steam away from the currency have also helped the metal. But if we see the one year chart of gold, it is pretty uninspiring.
Even as equities put up a stunning performance during the last one year with returns exceeding 30 per cent, gold’s return stands at 3 per cent in dollar terms and a little over 1 per cent in rupee terms.
Gold prices, which hit a high of $1,375 in July 2016, dropped to $1,135 by December, mainly due to positive set of economic data from the US.
Beginning March, as expectations rose again about a rate hike from the Fed, the metal slipped, this time to as low as $1,195/ounce (March 10).
The central bank did a 25 basis points hike on March 15. Since then, the dollar has cooled off and the yellow metal has been inching up again.
For Indian gold investors, the strong rupee also played spoilsport. The rupee appreciated against the US dollar — from 66.4 to 64.28 — stunting returns from gold.
The price of 10 gm gold as per the MCX Spot Gold index is currently at Rs. 28,845, compared to Rs. 29,080 last April; down about 1 per cent.
While the overall interest for gold was poor in 2016, there was some attraction for the Centre’s new gold instrument — sovereign gold bonds.
This included an additional coupon on the face value of investment (2.75 per cent and 2.5 per cent in the last two tranches) and capital gains tax exemption if held till maturity.
There have been seven issues of the bond so far. Excluding the latest issue — the numbers for which are not available — these bonds have collected Rs. 4,127 crore or 14 tonnes of gold.
Investors who bought these bonds in the first two tranches did make money. But investors who entered in later tranches have been stuck.
The third, fourth, fifth and sixth tranches of the bond now trade at a discount of 5-10 per cent to the issue price, while the previous ones are still at some profit.
Now, investors who have been wanting to exit these bonds are looking at the secondary market. Data from NSE and BSE shows that investors who hold 1,000 units or more may find it difficult to sell their holding at one go.
Sovereign gold bonds have stolen the sheen from the gold ETFs. Since last April to March 2017, there has been an outflow of Rs. 775 crore from these funds. All the 14-odd gold ETFs in the country may be holding less than 20 tonnes of gold now.
Gold may continue to be volatile in the current year as well, as the Fed continues with monetary tightening. Long-term investors can still buy gold.

Technical textiles or functional textiles, a sunrise sector in the country

Technical textiles or functional textiles, considered a sunrise sector in the country, is all set for demand taking off for products such as geo and agro textiles.
Geo textiles, for example, are permeable fabrics that are used in association with soil and which have the ability to separate and filter, while agro-textiles are used in shading and in weed and insect control.
The technical textiles sector had a compounded annual growth rate of 12% for the last three years.
It is expected to grow by 20 % the next five years. The schemes by the Government, better awareness, interface initiatives with other ministries are all expected to create demand.
The aim is to create awareness, promote use of technical textile products, then ensure the usage is mandated in at least some areas.
Functional textiles can be woven or non-woven. Automobile, geo, medical, industrial, and agro textiles are among the range of products that are made in the country. Foreign Direct Investments are also coming in, especially for geo textiles.
The Textiles Commissioner said that the number of larger industries involved in the manufacture of technical textile products is estimated to be about 2,500. Close to 1,000 of these have received Technology Upgradation Fund Scheme support.
The main challenges for technical textiles in the country are awareness among consumers, need for technology and knowledge about it among entrepreneurs, the investments and time needed to be innovative and develop applications, and raw material availability.

:: Science and Technology ::

IISC developed molecules to reduce survivability of Mycobacterium tuberculosis

Scientists at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) Bengaluru have developed two new, potent molecules that can severely impact the survival of mycobacteria, including Mycobacterium tuberculosis that causes TB.
The results were published in the journal Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy.
Unlike most antibiotics that target the bacterial metabolism by aiming at the cellular components, the novel molecules inhibit the stress response pathway of mycobacteria.
The stress response pathway is crucial for bacteria to survive during hostile conditions such as lack of nutrients and the presence of antibiotics, to name a few. So any inhibition of this pathway will lead to its death.
The master regulator of stress pathway in the case of mycobacteria is (p)ppGpp (Guanosine pentaphospahte or Guanosine tetraphosphate). Though a molecule that inhibits the (p)ppGpp formation has already been synthesised, the efficacy is not much.
Earlier studies have shown that when the rel gene is deleted, the long-term survival ability under stress was lost; the M. tuberculosis bacteria was unable to persist in mice and unable to form tubercle lesions in guinea pigs.
The major reason for prolonged treatment of TB is the bacterium’s ability to persist in dormant form, which is tolerant to most antibiotics used in the treatment regimen.
So inhibition of (p)ppGpp-mediated persistence could help in shortening the treatment regime, dealing with the emergence of multiple drug resistance and treatment of chronic infections.
Under hostile conditions, bacteria tend to form biofilms, which protect the bacteria from stress and induce tolerance to antibiotics. Both M. tuberculosis and M. smegmatis that do have the Rel gene cannot form a biofilm.
Since there are very few antibiotics that target the stress response pathway of the bacteria, the two molecules offer great promise.

Oxytocin hormone is involved in a broader range of social interactions

Oxytocin, often referred to as “the love hormone,” is involved in a broader range of social interactions than previously understood, according to a study on mice that appears in the journal Nature.
Scientists estimate that the advent of social living preceded the emergence of pair living by 35 million years.
The new study suggests that oxytocin’s role in one-on-one bonding probably evolved from an existing, broader affinity for group living.
The new study pinpoints a unique way in which oxytocin alters activity in a part of the brain called the nucleus accumbens, which is crucial to experiencing the pleasant sensation neuroscientists call “reward.”
The findings not only provide validity for ongoing trials of oxytocin in autistic patients, but also suggest possible new treatments for neuropsychiatric conditions in which social activity is impaired.
The group thinks their findings in mice are likely to generalise to humans because the brain’s reward circuitry has been so carefully conserved over the course of hundreds of millions of years of evolution.
This extensive cross-species similarity probably stems from pleasure’s absolutely essential role in reinforcing behaviour likely to boost an individual’s chance of survival and procreation.