Current Affairs for SSC CGL Exams - 17 January 2016

:: NATIONAL ::

Prime Minister Narendra Modi sought to infuse more energy into India’s start-up ecosystem with a bouquet of initiatives such as making tax-free the profits of these fledgling units for three years.
It also promised Rs. 10,000 crore of government funding over four years, no visits by labour inspectors for three years, and quicker and subsidised patent clearances.
The “Start-up India, Stand- up India” action plan, unveiled, promises a new mobile app to enable start-ups to register themselves within a day and apply for clearances online, and easier exits for failed ventures with a provision for winding them up within 90 days under a proposed bankruptcy and insolvency law.
Stressing that it was important for start-ups to have ideas and an ability to take risks, Mr. Modi pointed to Uber’s solution for a commuting problem.
Promising easier access to more finance for budding entrepreneurs through a Rs. 2,500-crore fund of funds annually over the next four years.
There will be tax incentives for government-recognised funds and they would be exempted from capital gains.
The issue of fair market valuation and tax on investments would also be resolved.
A tax is currently levied on all funding provided by domestic angel and venture capital funds to start-ups, with income tax authorities having the power to determine the valuation at which such investments are made on the basis of a “fair market value”.

Investigating agencies are in the process of producing messages posted by individuals on Facebook, Twitter and other social media platforms as evidence in court against those arrested for supporting or joining the Islamic State (IS) or any other terrorist outfit.
According to agencies, 25 Indians have so far travelled to Syria or Iraq to fight for the IS.
The government has developed a blueprint on the social media strategy against the IS for effective monitoring of the Internet and the dark Web, the hotspot of recruitment by the terrorist outfit.
Concerned over the growing influence of IS in neighbouring countries, Union Home ministry will use provisions under Mutual Legal Assistance treaty for information about IS.
This treaty’s usefulness came into picture when India received excellent cooperation from UAE regarding the arrest of Afsha Jabeen.

Beginning the first big diplomatic outreach of 2016, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj left on a three-day visit covering Israel and Ramallah, the capital of the Palestinian Authority.
After landing at the Tel Aviv airport, Ms. Swaraj, will engage in talks with the Palestinian leadership, in the first half of her trip.
She is scheduled to meet Palestinian President MahmoudAbbas over lunch.
However, the more intense part of the visit will take place on January 18 when Ms. Swaraj will be welcomed officially in Jerusalem by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Underscoring the importance of multilateral cooperation for stability and peace in the Indian Ocean region, Australian Army Chief says Malabar naval exercises are among a spate of opportunities in that regard.
Australia, which held its first bilateral naval exercise with the Indian Navy last year, has been long keen on joining the Malabar exercises along with the U.S. and Japan.
The India-U.S. Malabar naval exercises, which began in 1992, have grown in scope and complexity, acquiring geopolitical significance in recent times.
The bilateral format gave way to a trilateral one with inclusion of Japan as apermanent member in 2015.
In 2007, Australia joined the other three in a quadrilateral format for the exercises, but based severe criticism from China which saw it as a containment strategy.

Taiwan’s independence-leaning opposition leader Tsai Ing-wen won a convincing victory in presidential election and pledged to maintain peace with China, which claims the island as its own, though vowed to firmly defend Taiwan’s sovereignty.
Ms. Tsai, leader of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), will be thrust into one of Asia’s toughest and most dangerous jobs, with China pointing hundreds of missiles at the island, decades after losing Nationalists fled from Mao Zedong’s Communists to Taiwan in the Chinese civil war.
Support for the DPP has swelled since 2014, when hundreds of students occupied Taiwan’s Parliament forweeks protesting against a China trade bill in the largest display of anti-China sentiment the island had seen in years.
Ms. Tsai will have to balance the superpower interests of China, which is also Taiwan’s largest trading partner, and the U.S. with those of her freewheeling, democratic home.

Author Anuradha Roy on Saturday won the DSC Prize for South Asian Literature, 2016, for her novel Sleeping on Jupiter, which deals with violence against women.
At the Fairway Galle Literary Festival, about 130 km south of here, Sri Lanka Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe handed Ms. Roy the prize. The award cash prize of $50,000 and a trophy, according to a release.

In India entrepreneurship is no longer being looked down in the guise of a frugal or flexible innovation and the government will take steps to make capital easily available and ease rules to en- able startups to flourish.
The government had introduced the Bankruptcy Bill in Parliament in the recently concluded winter session but could not ensure its passage.
A simple and effective corporate insolvency law is important for expediting the winding up of a company, selling its assets and also for revival of sick companies.
Easier entry and exit norms are important from the point of view of a startup, too, as there is a likelihood of a good number of them failing.
Investors have often criticised the delays involved in the insolvency proceedings in India and the consequent fall in the company's asset value.
The government has set up a ‘fund-of-funds’ to help startups and it will not impose any conditions for startups but only act as facilitator.

The World Bankand the Indian Railways will work together to create a Rail- way Development Fund that will partly finance the $142 billion investment plans for the core infrastructure sector.
The size and nature of the fund was still under discussion and a formal announcement would follow soon.
The IFC could help Indian Railways to monetize its huge assets.
Globally railways get 30-40 per cent of their income from non-rail- way operations. In India it is not even two per cent.

Sania Mirza and Martina Hingis’s awe-inspiring run continued unabated as they lifted their second trophy of the season with the WTA Apia International title, after clinching their 30th win in a row.
It was the 11th title for the In- do-Swiss pair, continuing the good show from 2015.