Current Affairs for SSC CGL Exams - 17 July 2015

:: National ::

Amid the delay in release of caste data collected by the states under the Socio-Economic and Caste Census (SECC), 2011, the Cabinet on Thursday approved setting up of an expert group headed by Niti Aayog vice-chairman Arvind Panagariya to classify the data and publicise it.
However, no time line has been set for release of the data on caste/tribe as most of the states are yet to submit their report to the Centre on clubbing of various sub-groups of castes.
States have yet to complete the consolidation of 46 lakh castes,sub- castes,sub-caste names, synonyms, surnames, clan and gothra names enumerated by the census.
Other members of the Panagariya committee would be nominated by the ministries of social justice & empowerment and tribal affairs.
The Centre’s move comes after opposition parties demanded release of the caste data immediately.
The government has already released the socio-economic data generated by SECC on rural areas on July 3. It showed that almost 75% of households earn less than R5,000 per month; nearly 60% of them are deprived in some way or the other; 56% are landless and close to 36% of the rural people are illiterate even 68 years after independence.

In a move that will attract more overseas inflows and improve the ease of doing business in India, the government on Thursday simplified foreign investment rules by bringing together different categories.
The Cabinet Committee of Economic Affairs (CCEA), chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, introduced a composite cap for all kinds of overseas inflows, including foreign direct investment (FDI), foreign portfolio investment (FPI) and investments by non-resident Indians (NRIs).
The decision, which was first announced by finance minister Arun Jaitley in the Budget, boosted stocks of banks, which will now find it easier to attract foreign capital up to 74%. Banks are already reeling under the pressure of rising bad loans and need billions of dollars to meet capital requirements.
Besides banks, credit information firms, commodity and power exchanges, and defence and other retail companies among others, will also benefit from the policy.

Former Delhi Police Commissioner Neeraj Kumar was appointed as the Chief Advisor of Security and anti corruption unit (ACSU) of BCCI for next year’s T20 World Cup to be hosted by India.
Kumar was already roped in by the BCCI for a one-year period in the anti-corruption unit during the IPL.
Amrit Mathur has been appointed as the Principal Coordinator while R P Shah will be the Tournament Manager, Finance.

Pakistan all-rounder Mohammad Hafeez has been banned from bowling for 12 months after his action was found to be illegal for the second time since November, the International Cricket Council (ICC) said on Friday.
Former Pakistan captain Hafeez was initially reported after the first Test against New Zealand in Abu Dhabi in November and was subsequently banned after an independent analysis found his action to be illegal.
He was cleared to bowl in April after changing his action but the part-time off-spinner was again reported by match officials for a suspect action during last month’s Test against Sri Lanka in Galle.