Current Affairs for SSC CGL Exams - 17 August 2017

::National::

Panel aapointed by Govt says deaths not due to lack of Oxygen

• The deaths of children and others at the Baba Raghav Das Medical College Hospital in Gorakhpur, Uttar Pradesh, were not caused by a shortage of oxygen supply, a three-member Central government committee said.
• “In fact, the number of deaths have reduced compared to last year,” said Dr. Harish Chellani, from the paediatric department of Safdarjung Hospital, who was part of the team.
• The Central government panel visited the hospital on Saturday amid allegations that a private contractor stopped supplying oxygen, resulting in the death of many children.
• The team of experts that went to BRD Hospital also included Health Ministry official Dr. M.K. Agrawal and head of the department (neonatal) of Kalawati Hospital Dr. Sushma Nagiya.
• The team looked at deaths between August 1 and 6 and then between August 7 and 12. The BRD Hospital had previously maintained that of the 34 babies who died at the neo-natal intensive care unit, 12 died of encephalitis.
• The hospital, in its statement, said there had been a “drop in pressure in the supply of liquid oxygen” on Thursday last week, but added that cylinders were procured from other suppliers.
• Meanwhile, BRD Medical College principal Dr. P.K. Singh said on Wednesday that there had been 10 deaths, seven in the neonatal ICU and three in the paediatric ICU, from midnight of August 14 till midnight of August 15.

International space station docks SpaceX

• A SpaceX shipment arrived at the International Space Station, delivering a bonanza of science experiments.
• The SpaceX Dragon capsule pulled up following a two-day flight from Cape Canaveral. NASA astronaut Jack Fischer used the space station’s hefty robot arm to grab the Dragon 400 km above the Pacific, near New Zealand.
• The Dragon holds 3 tonnes of cargo, mostly research. The extra-large science load includes a cosmic ray monitor, a mini satellite with cheap, off-the-shelf scopes for potential military viewing, and 20 mice for an eye and brain study.
• Lucky for the station’s six-person crew, a big variety of ice cream is also stashed away in freezers, including birthday cake flavour. It just so happens astronaut Randolph Bresnik turns 50 next month.
• It’s enough for more than 250 experiments in the coming months, he noted. “Need to get back to work. We’ve got a Dragon to unload. SpaceX is one of NASA’s two prime shippers for station supplies.
• Orbital ATK is the other; its next delivery is in November from Wallops Island, Virginia. The two companies have taken over the cargo hauls formerly handled by NASA’s now retired space shuttles.

New Metro policy for various cities of India

• The Union Cabinet has approved a new policy for expanding and regulating metro rail services in cities across India. This is the first such policy document prepared by the Centre since metro rail operations began in Delhi in 2002.
• The 14-page document approved has seven key points, of which the most significant is the one on funding pattern.
• The policy gives a big boost to private players by making private participation mandatory for all the three funding options – be it a public-private partnership (PPP) model with central assistance under the Viability Gap Funding.
• A grant from the Centre under which 10% of the project cost would be given as a lump sum, or a 50:50 equity sharing model between the Central and State governments.
• Private participation “either for complete provision of metro rail or for some unbundled components” such as automatic fare collection will form an essential requirement for all metro rail projects seeking Central financial assistance.
• The policy also seeks to ensure that metro projects are initiated for sound reasons. The Urban Development Ministry recently turned down a metro project proposal from Vijayawada due to lack of passenger traffic.
• The policy also makes it mandatory for state governments to set up a unified metropolitan transport authority. This would be a statutory body entrusted with preparing a comprehensive mobility plan for the city.
• In cases where States opt for central assistance of 10% of project cost, the Union government will not concern itself with project execution.
• Noting that metro projects should stop turning into white elephants, the policy stipulates an increase in rate of return from the current the 8% to 14%.

::International::

U.K. says it wants to work with India over North Korea issue

• Britain hopes to work with India to exercise influence over China on North Korea, the country’s Foreign Secretary has said.
• Speaking at a 70th Independence Day event, Boris Johnson expressed his hope that the two allies could work together to “persuade our friends in China of the truth... it’s in the Chinese government’s hands to exercise that economic pressure to achieve the diplomatic resolution that we need,” he said.
• “This relationship is about so much more than trade and so much more than... the interchange of goods and services. It’s about the things that make the trade happen and at a time when the world is full of promise and full of threats.”
• Mr. Johnson’s remarks mark a shift away in Britain from rhetoric focussed largely on trade cooperation with India in the wake of the Brexit referendum to a more holistic discussion of the relationship.
• Senior figures in India have expressed their concerns about the focus on boosting trade. Last year, Commerce and Industry Minister Nirmala Sitharaman told the BBC that India was no longer being treated as “old friends” but that relationship had become a tight “tight professional engagement.”
• High Commissioner Sinha said he hoped the countries would continue to increase cooperation on intelligence sharing when it came to combating terrorism.

Hizbul Mujahideen labelled a ‘terror group’

• The U.S. designated militant outfit Hizbul Mujahideen as a “foreign terrorist organisation”, nearly two months after declaring the group’s chief Syed Salahuddin as a global terrorist.
• The designation, which slaps a series of U.S. sanctions on the outfit, came against the backdrop of an upsurge in terror activities by the militant group in Kashmir in recent months.
• All of Hizbul Mujahideen’s property and interests subject to U.S. jurisdiction are blocked, and people in the U.S. are generally prohibited from engaging in any transactions with the group.
• The decision marks a severe blow to Pakistan which has been projecting the militant group as a voice of the Kashmiri people.
• Pakistan’s Army chief Gen. Qamar Javed Bajwa and former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif have both repeatedly praised the militant group’s slain commander Burhan Wani who was killed in July last year in an encounter in Kashmir.

::Business and Economy::

India wants to diversify the import of oil

• Indian Oil Corporation placed India’s first ever shale oil order two days ago with the U.S., according to company Chairman Sanjiv Singh, who said that the prices from the U.S. were very competitive even when compared with those from Gulf nations.
• Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan said that, regardless of the current tensions between India and China on the border, China was showing keen interest in maintaining business relations between the two countries.
• Mr. Pradhan added that the increasing oil imports from new sources such as the U.S. was also putting pressure on OPEC countries to reduce the ‘Asian premium’ on oil prices they charge Asian countries, including India.
• Under the FOB model, the buyer takes delivery of the item as soon as it leaves the seller’s shores, which means that shipping costs are borne by the buyer.
• The deal with U.S. companies by IOC and BPCL, for 3.5 million barrels and 1.9 million barrels respectively, has PetroChina transporting the oil on behalf of the U.S. companies.
• Mr. Pradhan was also optimistic about the diversification of oil imports, including from countries like the U.S., as it would put pressure on the OPEC countries to do away with the Asian premium, something India has been arguing for.
• The increasing cooperation between India and the U.S. was mentioned by President Donald Trump as well.

PM to find over possible solutions for India’s critical development challenges

• Prime Minister Narendra Modi will interact with nearly 400 young CEOs, professionals and start-up representatives over the week and deliberate over possible solutions for India’s critical development challenges.
• This program is called Champions of Change – Transforming India through government to business partnership, and is an attempt to involve young CEOs and professionals in the government’s efforts to build a new India by 2022.
• The Prime Minister is expected to spend about three-and-a-half hours with representatives from start-ups, when different groups are slated to make a 10-minute presentation on specific themes with a five-minute window for questions from the PM.
• The average age of the 180 young CEOs, expected to interact with the PM and other top government officials and ministers on August 21 and 22, is just 40-42 years, the official said.

Public sector share in banking too large

• India’s public sector is too large and is proving to be a hindrance to growth, especially in the banking sector
• Most billionaires in India who had emerged over the last decade were ‘bad billionaires’, whose wealth was created in sectors where government help was needed to create that wealth. He also rated India poorly in terms of the skewed nature of the concentration of wealth.
• The share of the public sector, especially in the banking sector, is too large. In the banking sector, the public sector is two-thirds, the highest proportion among developing countries, except for, maybe, North Korea.
• Gradual shrinkage in the business activity of the public sector enterprises in favour of their private counterparts was ‘privatisation by malign neglect’, adding that this had happened in the telecom and airlines sectors.
• Typically manufacturing was the key to economic success, while commodity-producing economies do poorly over time. While foreign investment was flowing to India, domestic investors were choosing to go abroad, he said.

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