Current Affairs for SSC CGL Exams - 21 February 2017

:: National ::

The Centre to oppose bill to declare countries like Pakistan terror states

The Centre will oppose a Private Member’s Bill moved in the Rajya Sabha recently seeking to declare countries like Pakistan “terror states.”
Independent Member of Parliament Rajeev Chandrasekhar had moved The Declaration of Countries as Sponsor of Countries as Sponsor of Terrorism Bill, 2016.
Bill wants to impose legal, economic and travel sanctions on citizens of countries which promote terror. The Bill came up for discussion on February 3.
The Home Ministry has written to the Parliament Secretariat opposing the Bill as it jeopardises international relations under the Geneva Convention.
India has accused Pakistan of instigating terror attacks but the two countries have maintained diplomatic relations even during the Kargil war and Operation Parakram.
Mr. Chandrasekhar said, “For decades, India and other countries in the region have been victims of terror attacks from organisations and individuals based in and with the support of elements in Pakistan."
"Yet for decades we have remained engaged with Pakistan in an attempt to draw it into the mainstream. Pakistan’s track record of fostering terrorism and terrorists is long and incontrovertible"
A private member’s Bill can be enacted into a law once it has been screened by a House committee, which is optional, and passed by a majority vote.

Vijay Mallya's custody sought under Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty

Indian agencies sought help in securing the custody ofVijay Mallya, under the Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty (MLAT) for his prosecution in a money laundering case against him.
At the Enforcement Directorate’s instance, the Union Home Ministry has forwarded to the External Affairs Ministry a request for the “transfer” of Mr. Mallya from London to India under Article 11 (1)(d) of the 1995 treaty.
Legal representatives of the two Ministries and the investigating agencies participated in the crucial meeting with the U.K. legal team.
Mr. Mallya faces criminal proceedings by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the ED in two major cases of default of bank loans of Rs. 9,000 crore.
He flew out to London last March and refused to come back despite court intervention. His diplomatic passport was cancelled and non-bailable warrants issued against him. He has been declared a proclaimed offender.
After its request for his deportation was turned down by the U.K. on technical grounds, the Directorate had moved a request to transfer Mr. Mallya under the MLAT agreement, for assistance in the investigations or giving evidence in the legal proceedings.
The CBI is also expected to raise the issue of its request for the extradition of Mr. Mallya, following a clearance from a Mumbai special court.
The agency has filed a chargesheet against him, senior functionaries of the Kingfisher Airlines and some IDBI officials.

Status report of investigation conducted by SIT into 1984 riots filed in SC

The government filed a status report in the Supreme Court on the investigation conducted by a special investigation team (SIT) into 1984 anti-Sikh riots cases.
The report was filed on the basis of a January 16 direction from the Supreme Court to the Centre to file a “comprehensive report” on the status of the probe conducted by the SIT on a plea seeking a court-monitored investigation.
The court had asked the government to brief it within four weeks on the steps taken in the matter, after the Centre had said that the SIT’s work was “in progress”.
The Centre, in its counter-affidavit filed earlier, had said the SIT investigation had made considerable progress, with 218 cases at various stages of scrutiny, and a “decision has been taken for re-investigation in 22 cases”.
The petitioner has said the SIT was formed by the Centre on February 12, 2015 for a fresh probe into the 1984 riots cases and got an extension for a year.

:: India and World ::

India wants TNA to continue negotiating a political solution in Sri Lanka

Foreign Secretary S. Jaishankar has asked Sri Lanka’s Tamil leadership to continue negotiating a political solution with the government, without being fixated on the demand for merging the island’s northern and eastern provinces.
TNA leader briefed him on some pressing issues faced by the Tamil people, including the lack of progress on the release of military-occupied land by the government, lingering concerns over enforced disappearances.
The TNA delegation also updated Mr. Jaishankar about the new Constitution, pointing to the process being “stalled”.
Sri Lanka is currently drafting a new Constitution, but the country’s minority Tamils are worried about the pace of the exercise.
With a section of Sinhalese lawmakers in the south opposing any increase in the power shared with provinces, the process appears to have hit a major roadblock.
Mr. Jaishankar reportedly assured the TNA that he would raise the issues with President Maithripala Sirisena and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe.
Mr. Jaishankar, who served as political counsellor in Colombo between 1988 and 1990, observed that a lot had happened since the neighbours signed the agreement, such as the assassination of Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi.
He suggested that the Tamils continue pushing for a broader political solution rather than be fixated on the merger.
Offering support to Sri Lanka to tackle drought, Mr. Jaishankar said that India would donate eight water bowsers and 100 tonnes of rice as immediate assistance, according to a press release from the Indian High Commission.

Europe urged for six-month extension of bilateral investment with India

Members of the European Parliament “Delegation for Relations with India” urged the government to consider a six-month extension of bilateral investment treaties until the FTA or the comprehensive BTIA negotiations are restarted.
The delegation, one of three with senior officials from the EU and European Parliament visiting India this week, met Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and Commerce Minister Nirmala Sitharaman to discuss their concerns.
Nearly 11 months after Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited Brussels and spoke about the issue, EU diplomats say there has been no movement on the BTIA/FTA talks that were suspended in 2013 after 16 rounds of negotiation.
The officials said there was a need for a “greater sense of urgency”, given that BITs with most EU countries would lapse within the first half of 2017.
The Bilateral investment treaty with The Netherlands, a country that is home to the second largest population of people of Indian origin in Europe, after the UK, lapsed on November 30, and the rest are expected to follow shortly.
Amongst the other arguments put forth by the delegation were that businesses in their countries would like to invest in India only once the government “guarantees” the process in India, which would follow the conclusion of the BTIA.
Apart from the BTIA, the MEPs said they were also concerned by “growing violence in Jammu and Kashmir” that was “hampering better ties between India and Pakistan”.

:: Science and Technology ::

The risk of running out of rare earth metals led to deep sea mining

The risk of running out of rare earth metals that are essential to modern technology has led to a surge in interest in mining the deep seas.
But fears have also mounted about the environmental impact of disturbing vast areas of the pristine ocean floor, experts said at the American Association for the Advancement of Science annual conference in Boston.
Demographic growth and the acceleration of technological innovations in the past 40 years have doubled the quantity of minerals extracted worldwide, leading to shortages of certain key metals, according to a recent UN report.
When it comes to copper, an essential element for electrical equipment and numerous industries, a shortage could begin around 2050, he said.
This uncertainty highlights the importance of considering deep-sea mining, even though the process involves environmental risks.
Given the risks to fragile ecosystems, a new international approach to managing mineral deposits should be put in place, said a recent report published in Science.

:: Business and Economy ::

Finance Ministry started the process of listing three rail PSUs

Within three weeks of the Budget announcement, the Finance Ministry on Monday started the process of listing three rail PSUs — IRCTC, IRFC and IRCON.
The government is considering divesting a portion of the paid-up equity share capital through an IPO and has sought Expression of Interest (EoI) from merchant bankers by March 16.
The Department of Investment and Public Asset Management is scouting for merchant bankers to manage the IPO of the three PSUs. The government currently holds 100% stake in these three companies.
Finance Minister had said that the government will put in place a revised mechanism to ensure time-bound listing of identified CPSEs on stock exchanges as it would foster greater public accountability and unlock their true value.
The government intends to raise Rs. 72,500 crore through disinvestment of PSUs in the next fiscal.

Microsoft announced a strategic partnership with Flipkart

Mr. Nadella, who leads the world’s largest software maker, announced a strategic partnership with Flipkart, where the e-commerce company would adopt the company's cloud computing platform, Microsoft Azure.
Flipkart said that it planned to leverage artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning and analytics capabilities in Azure to optimise its data for innovative merchandising, advertising, marketing and customer service.
AI is the simulation of human intelligence processes by computer systems and machine learning and gives computers the ability to learn without being explicitly programmed.
“We are on the right ladder this time, I don't think we are going back to AI winter,” said Mr. Nadella at the event where the audience consisted of hundreds of start-up founders, investors and industry experts.
He said that the real challenge in AI is understanding of the human language, which still doesn't exist.
Tech entrepreneur Nandan Nilekani said that he was excited about the advent of technologies like AI and the cloud.
He said that there was a challenge of taking the country from $2,000 per capita income to $20,000 and there was also a need to fix sectors like healthcare, education and financial services.
“The only way to square the circle is by using AI and cloud to deliver personalised health, education and financial services to a billion people,” said Mr. Nilekani.
Through his social enterprise EkStep, he said that he aimed to fix the learning challenges of India’s 200 million children using AI and smartphones.