Current Affairs for SSC CGL Exams - 16 October 2016

:: National ::

Russia came in support of India for fight against terror

India and Russia put up an emphatic display of deep bilateral ties, setting aside recent discord, and came out strongly against terror.
Both sides signed 16 important deals including one on S-400 missile systems, a game-changer in countering airborne threats.
Defence production and acquisition agreements were announced after the summit between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Vladimir Putin.
Apart from the Inter Governmental Agreement on the missile system — worth nearly Rs 39,000 crore — Russia also agreed to sell Kamov 226T helicopters and four Krivak class stealth frigates to India.
The Kamov 226T helicopters will be manufactured by Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL) and Rostec State Corporation of Russia under a joint production plan.
In his statement, President Vladimir Putin highlighted Russia’s “stable” approach to ties with India and said his government will ensure steady energy cooperation with India to support the expanding Indian economy.
“Sometimes differences appear in some projects over a period due to currency devaluation. But we commit to maintain a steady approach to bilateral projects with India,” said President Putin
He also added, “we are working on joint development of Sukhoi super jets and passenger aircraft.”

BRICS, BIMSTEC come together in Goa

When leaders of countries that make up half the world’s population and nearly a quarter of global GDP ($17 trillion combined) gather, it is a display of muscle that the world is bound to watch.
Yet, despite the power-packed photo opportunities at Goa this year, there are several reasons to believe that the BRICS forum, once comprising the world’s fastest growing economies, is running out of steam.
The slump in oil prices has affected Russia and Brazil’s growth stories, and Russia has paid heavily for western sanctions over Ukraine.
Chinese manufacturing saw its weakest growth in years, while India, the world’s fastest growing economy, has faced a contraction in IIP figures.
The South African Finance Minister said his economy was in a “crisis” this year, with revised growth estimates falling below 1 per cent, and 26 per cent unemployment, fuelling violent protests.
Meanwhile, bilateral ties between India and China have reached new lows: with China’s CPEC clinch with Pakistan and India’s shift to the U.S.’ strategic corner on the South China Sea.
Russia’s shift away from an exclusive relationship with India, an ambivalence on defence ties with Pakistan consistent with its new dependence on China is another factor that is loosening some of the mortar between the BRICS countries.
Brazil and South Africa are also known to have reservations on India’s bid for the NSG membership.
The Modi government has made it clear that it wants to see “strong language” on terrorism, with specific references to cross-border terror, safe havens, funding and sponsorship of terror groups, that China may seek to temper on behalf of Pakistan.
Russia would like the full backing of BRICS for its actions in Syria, which India and Brazil’s new pro-U.S. government may resist.
And China would like all BRICS countries to express support on the South China Sea, which India may find difficult to do.
Given all the stresses and strains on the structure of BRICS, the ‘sunny’ spot for India as a host may come from the BIMSTEC outreach instead.
The seven-nation grouping of Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Sri Lanka, Thailand, was founded in 1997 as BISTEC, and then refurbished as the Bay of Bengal initiative for multi-sectoral technical and economic cooperation (BIMSTEC), but has floundered since then for lack of funding.
It did not even have an office, and meetings were held at the Thai Foreign Ministry in Bangkok until it was given headquarters in Dhaka in 2011 and a secretary-general, Sri Lankan diplomat SumithNakandala, in 2014.
In the past few months, the grouping has shown a coherence that is leading to projects on connectivity, infrastructure and sharing resources, both inter-regionally and bilaterally.
India’s “Act East” policy is spurring the government to extend the Trilateral highway project all the way to Cambodia.

Centre has written to States to implement the recommendations of nurses pay

The Centre has written to the Health Secretaries of all States to formulate a legislation or guidelines to implement the recommendations of a committee on better salaries and working conditions for nurses in private hospitals.
Supreme Court, while hearing a public interest litigation had asked the Ministry to set up a committee within a month to study the pay and working conditions of nurses in private hospitals.
The court had also asked the Centre to frame guidelines to regulate the working conditions of nurses and consider fixing minimum wages for them. A four-member committee was appointed by the Health Ministry in February.
The main recommendation of the committee was that the salary given to nurses in private hospitals should not be less than Rs.20,000 a month.
However, in Kerala, the previous United Democratic Front government had set up a minimum wages committee in February this year to fix the wages of all employees in private hospitals, including that of nurses.
Though the 26-member committee, which included representatives of two nurses’ associations, various trade unions, and hospital managements had met several times, its term expired when the new Left Democratic Front government took over.

:: Science and Technology ::

Genetic secrets of purple rice

The mysterious ways of genes influencing the character of crop plants through long periods of domestication, selection and modern breeding continues to perplex specialists, as found out by researchers working on coloured rice.
Even the whole Genome Sequencing (WGS) of the Purpleputtu rice variety has not fully opened the windows to the genetic secrets to the researchers.
Researchers at the SciGenom Research Foundation, said the genome sequencing of Purpleputtu revealed around 65,000 unique genetic mutations compared with the reference sequence, of which about 50 are in the genes of the colour pathway.
The question of how specific genes and gene networks control the expression of its uniqueness, the purple colour, still remains an unanswered mystery, say researchers.
In most cultivated white grain rice varieties, a regulatory gene, Rc is missing 14 base pairs, which is believed to have changed the phenotype of seeds from coloured to white.
The presence of the 14 base pairs is believed to help regulate the anthocyanin pathway enzymes to produce coloured seeds, and its absence is accounted for the grains remaining more or less white.
The sequencing revealed that the 14 base pairs of Rc gene were absent in Purpleputtu variety.
This leads to the conclusion that there are alternative regulatory pathways operating in Purpleputtu.

:: Business and Economy ::

Credit guarantee fund for start ups to be set up by the Centre soon

The Centre will soon set up a Rs.2,000 crore credit guarantee fund to support start-ups, Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) Secretary said.
This corpus of Rs.2,000 crore will provide up to 80 per cent risk cover for collateral free credit being given by banks and financial institutions to start-ups.
government is working on softening existing regulations for start-ups. DIPP is fast tracking the patent examination process. “We are providing 80 per cent rebate in applications.

Centre to push for infrastructure development in next few months

The Centre may seek parliamentary approval to spend about $7.5 billion more on roads, railways and other programmes over the next five months, as Prime Minister Narendra Modi looks to spur growth and create jobs.
The new spending, details of which are still being worked out, would come at a time when private investment has plunged, leading to a slowdown.
It would also coincide with the run-up to a crucial state election early next year in Uttar Pradesh, Indian's most populous state that is home to more than 200 million people.
At $7.5 billion, the additional spending would represent about 2.5 per cent of the total budgeted so far for the current fiscal year.
The Uttar Pradesh poll is shaping up to be one of the most important tests for BJP, with ramifications both for the smooth functioning of government and his chances of winning a second term in 2019 national elections.
While some of his government’s initiatives, such as bank accounts have started reaching people in the country's vast rural hinterland, the administration has struggled to create enough jobs.

The Centre plans to widen consultations over a proposed social security code for workers

The Centre plans to widen consultations over a proposed social security code for workers, after a series of labour law reform proposals ran into opposition from trade unions.
The labour ministry plans to hold several meetings with State governments to discuss the proposed law on social security for organised and unorganised workers beginning early next month.
NDA govt has announced a slew of labour reform proposals including codes on industrial relations and wages, small factories Bill, factories Bill, employees provident fund Bill, and employees' state insurance Bill.
However, the government is going slow on the reforms mainly due to opposition from trade unions.
The labour ministry now plans a single law on social security for workers that may combine and alter various laws such as the Employees’ Provident Fund & Miscellaneous Provision Act, 1952, the Employees’ State Insurance Act, 1948, the Employees’ Compensation Act, 1921, the Payment of Gratuity Act, 1972 and the Maternity Benefit Act, 1961.
Labour Minister Bandaru Dattatreya had said in August that the ministry had held about 25 tripartite meetings with stakeholders since coming to power in May 2014 to discuss workers-related issues.
The labour ministry official said state-level officials, including welfare boards and local bodies, will also be a part of the discussion on the proposed social security code for workers.
For framing the draft social security code, the Centre had also asked the International Labour Organisation (ILO) for technical assistance.