Current Affairs For SSC CGL Exam

19 July, 2014

GEAC clears field trials for GM crops

• The Genetic Engineering Approval Committee (GEAC) has given the green signal for field trials of genetically modified (GM) rice, mustard, cotton, chickpea and brinjal.
• While the GEAC has approved the commercial release of Bt brinjal it has been stayed by the Ministry of Environment and Mr. Pande said the government would have to take a decision on this.
• The only genetically modified crop approved for release in India is cotton.
• Three companies - Bayer Bio Sciences, Monsanto and BASF have been allowed to import the Soyabean oil, which is genetically modified. The last time Central Food Technological
• Research Institute (CFTRI), gave a clean chit to imported samples.

Indian flights asked to avoid Ukranian airspace

• Indian civil aviation authorities have ordered rerouting of its Europe and US-bound flights to avoid Ukrainian airspace following the Malaysian Airlines plane crash.
• Indian civil authorities issued instructions to avoid Ukraine airspace shortly after Eurocontrol, the European flight safety body, closed airspace in Eastern Ukraine to all airline flights. Prime Minister Narender Modi’s special flight and hundreds of other flights were rerouted from the ill-fated Malaysian Airlines’ flight path.

Russian-backed separatists fired missile: Obama

• U.S. President Barack Obama has said that “Russian-backed separatists inside of Ukraine” used surface-to-air missiles to bring down Malaysia Airlines 17.
• Mr. Obama also said that the incident was a “wake-up call for Europe and the rest of the world that there are consequences” to escalating tensions in the Ukraine region.
• Mr. Obama said "In order to facilitate that investigation, Russia, pro-Russian separatists and Ukraine must adhere to an immediate ceasefire".
• Russian President urged that peace shall prevail on Ukrainian land and that direct contacts between all opposing sides should be established as soon as possible.
• The Ukrainian government has so far firmly rejected any direct talks with the separatists.

Contingent liabilities of states a cause for concern, says RBI paper

• A working paper of the Reserve Bank of India titled ``Debt sustainability at the State level in India’’ sounded a warning that the contingent liabilities, primarily in the form of issuance of guarantees by the state governments, remained an area of concern.
• Going forward, there could be downside risks in case the slowdown in growth momentum observed during the last two years persisted.
• The debt position of state governments witnessed a significant improvement from 2004-05 onwards. This has been attributed, among others, to the implementation of of Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management (FRBM) Acts/Fiscal Responsibility Legislations (FRLs) at the state level in early 2000s.
• Karnataka was the first to enact its FRBM Act in September 2002, followed by Kerala (2003), Tamil Nadu (2003) and Punjab (2003).
• This was also supported by the implementation of Debt Swap Scheme (DSS) from 2002-03 to 2004-05 and Debt Consolidation and Relief Facility (DCRF) from 2005-06 to 2009-10. These two debt restructuring schemes provided debt relief through debt consolidation, and reduced the interest burden on the states.
• These developments were mirrored in lower debt-GDP ratio at 26.6 per cent in end-March 2008, before declining further to 21.7 per cent in end-March 2013.

SEBI finalises draft norms for Infra Investment Trusts

• The Securities and Exchange Board of India, came out with draft guidelines for Infrastructure Investment Trusts (InvITs), which will enable creation of a new investment product for arranging long-term financing for infrastructure projects.
• These InvITs can be listed on the stock exchanges, will get tax benefits and will invest the funds collected from investors in infrastructure projects, including PPP.
• An InvIT prior to making an offer of units, either through public issue or private placement, may have strategic investors such as banks, international multilateral financial institutions, FPIs including sovereign wealth funds, which together invest not less than 5 per cent of the size of the InvIT or such amount as may be specified by Sebi.
• The proposed holding of an InvIT in the underlying assets shall be not less than Rs.500 crore, and the offer size of the InvIT shall not be less then Rs.250 crore at the time of initial offer of units.
• The aggregate consolidated borrowing of the InvIT and the underlying SPVs shall never exceed 49 per cent of the value of InvIT assets. Further, for any borrowing exceeding 25 per cent of the value of InvIT assets, requirement of credit rating and unit holders approval has been made mandatory.
• InvITs would allow investors to invest in specific products linked to infrastructure projects, while providing necessary safeguards. Besides, it would help the corporates raise significant amounts of capital for their projects.
• An InvIT which proposes to invest at least 80 per cent of the value of the assets in the completed and revenue generating infrastructure assets, The remaining 20 per cent may be invested in under construction infrastructure projects.

SEBI eases disclosure norms for AIFs

• Alternative Investment Funds (AIFs) are basically funds established, or incorporated in India, for the purpose of pooling in capital from Indian and foreign investors for investing as per a pre-decided policy.

• The Securities and Exchange Board of India said that all AIF have to disclose the ‘disciplinary history’ of the fund, its sponsor, manager, directors, partners, promoters and associates for the last five years.

• Further, SEBI said any change in placement memorandum (which consists of details of disciplinary actions of the funds) to all would be intimated to investors and to SEBI once every six months on a consolidated basis, as against the current practice of seven days.

• Under SEBI guidelines, AIFs can operate broadly in three categories. The Category-I AIFs are those funds that get incentives from the government, SEBI or other regulators and include Social Venture Funds, Infrastructure Funds, Venture Capital Funds and SME Funds. The Category-III AIFs are those trading with a view to making short-term returns and it includes hedge funds, among others. The Category-II AIFs can invest anywhere in any combination but are prohibited from raising debt, except for meeting their day-to-day operational requirements. These AIFs include private equity funds, debt funds or fund of funds, as also all others falling outside the ambit of two other categories.

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