Current Affairs for SSC CGL Exams - 21 September 2016

:: National ::

Govt releases list of 27 new smart cities

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Lok Sabha constituency Varanasi has made its way to the list of 27 new smart cities announced by the Urban Development Ministry.
Varanasi is one of the three cities, others being Agra and Kanpur, from Uttar Pradesh which goes to the polls next year, which are part of the list of new smart cities.
The 27 cities, including Madurai, were selected after three rounds of competition, with the total number selected under Smart City Mission standing at 60.
Govt said the new 27 smart cities proposed projects worth Rs. 66,883 crore under Smart City Mission, including Rs. 42,524 crore under area-based development and Rs.11,379 crore for technology-based pan-city solutions.
With five cities, Maharashtra has the highest number of cities on the list. The 27 new cities are from 12 States, including four each from Tamil Nadu and Karnataka, three from Uttar Pradesh and two each from Punjab and Rajasthan. Nagaland and Sikkim have made it to the list for the first time.
Amritsar topped the list of 27 new smart cities chosen among 63 total cities.
Eight other cities of pilgrim and tourism importance that have made it to the third list are Ujjain, Tirupati, Nashik, Madurai, Thanjavur and Ajmer, apart from Agra and Varanasi.
The implementation of Smart City Mission is now spread over 27 States and Union Territories.
The nine States and Union Territories that are yet to enter the implementation phase are Uttarakhand, Jammu and Kashmir, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Arunachal Pradesh, Puducherry, Lakshadweep, Daman and Diu and Dadra, Nagar and Haveli.
Each of these cities will receive a Central assistance of Rs. 200 crore in the first year and Rs. 100 crore over the three subsequent financial years, and the State Govts and urban local bodies will match the Centre’s contribution of Rs. 500 crore.
The Centre plans to transform 100 cities by 2019-20 by providing Rs. 48,000 crore in financial support over five years.

Supreme Court directed Karnataka to release 6000 cusecs of Cauvery water per day

The Supreme Court directed Karnataka to release 6000 cusecs of Cauvery water per day to neighbouring Tamil Nadu.
A Bench led by Justice Dipak Misra directed Karnataka to release this amount from its reservoirs for the period between September 21 to September 27, the next date of hearing in the Supreme Court.
Despite objections by senior advocate Fali Nariman for Karnataka that the State was in dire need of drinking water, the Bench doubled the quantum ordered to be released by the Cauvery Supervisory Committee barely 24 hours ago.
The court order was a severe blow to Karnataka, which began the hearing by protesting even the Committee’s order to release 3000 cusecs to Tamil Nadu till September 30.
The order has also impacted its challenge to the Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal verdict in 2007 by directing the Centre to set up the Cauvery Management Board within four weeks.
The setting up of the Board, envisaged by the tribunal, was put on hold due to Karnataka’s litigation.

India’s first inter-State river interlinking project got a go-ahead from NBWL

India’s first inter-State river interlinking project was given a go-ahead by the National Board for Wildlife (NBWL).This would be the first time that a river project will be located within a tiger reserve.
The Rs. 10,000-crore Ken-Betwa project will irrigate the drought-prone Bundelkhand region but, in the process, also submerge about 10 per cent of the Panna Tiger Reserve in Madhya Pradesh, feted as a model tiger-conservation reserve.
The main feature of the project is a 230-km long canal and a series of barrages and dams connecting the Ken and Betwa rivers that will irrigate 3.5 lakh hectares in Madhya Pradesh and 14,000 hectares of Uttar Pradesh, in Bundelkhand.
The key projects are the Makodia and Dhaudhan dams, the latter expected to be 77 m high and responsible for submerging 5,803 hectares of tiger habitat in the Panna tiger reserve.
According to the NBWL, 6,221 hectares — 4,141 of which is core forest and located inside the reserve — will be inundated when, and if, the proposed reservoir is filled to the brim.
A key point of contention between wildlife experts associated with the impact assessment and dam proponents in the Water Resources Ministry was whether the height of the Daudhan dam could be reduced to limit the water overflow .
The Ken Betwa project is divided into two phases and these clearances are only valid for the 1st phase. The wildlife clearance will pave the way for the forest clearance and environment clearance process.

:: International ::

The United Nations suspended all aid convoys in Syria

The United Nations suspended all aid convoys in Syria, the day after a deadly airstrike on trucks loaded with crucial supplies of food and medicine. The airstrike came after the Syrian military had declared an end to a seven-day partial cease-fire.
Stephen O’Brien, the head of the U.N. agency that coordinates aid, said in a statement that the attack would amount to a war crime if it were found to have targeted humanitarian aid workers.
The airstrike came as workers were unloading aid. It killed a senior official of the Syrian Arab Red Crescent and some civilians, but initial reports that 14 people had died could not be confirmed.
Repeated strikes by aircraft destroyed 18 of 31 trucks that the U.N. said had been clearly marked as a humanitarian convoy.
The trucks were carrying wheat flour, 9 tonnes of medicine and winter clothing for about 78,000 people.
The attack came shortly after the Syrian army had announced that the partial cease-fire was over and resumed offensive operations, reportedly including airstrikes on rebel-held parts of the city of Aleppo.

:: Business and Economy ::

Asian Development Bank approved $631 million for India’s first coastal industrial corridor

Asian Development Bank has approved $631 million for building India’s first coastal industrial corridor between Visakhapatnam and Chennai.
The fund will help develop the first key 800-km section of the planned 2,500-km East Coast Economic Corridor expected to spur development on India’s eastern coast and enable seamless trade links with other parts of South and Southeast Asia.
The total cost of the project is $846 million and work on it is expected to be over by 2031. The remaining $215 million would be funded by the Andhra Pradesh government.
ADB’s loans and grants comprise a $500 million two-tranche facility to build key infrastructure and a $125 million two-tranche loan to help in industrial policies and business promotion.
By 2025, annual industrial output along the corridor will increase fourfold to $64 billion from about $16 billion in 2015 if investment opportunities are maximized over the coming 10 years.
The Centre is keen to encourage manufacturing to create jobs for a labour force that is growing by about 12 million each year.

Govt looking to give boost to tourism sector

The government is looking to woo foreign and domestic investments to fund 700 tourism-related projects requiring over Rs.50,000 crore during the three-day Incredible India summit set to kick off on Wednesday.
The summit, organised in association with CII, is the first such tourism investors’ summit to be held in India. It will be inaugurated by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley.
States roped in knowledge partners such as KPMG to identify these projects, which included amusement parks and hotels.
The thrust remained on hospitality as there wasneed for about two lakh hotel rooms to cater to higher demand from foreign and domestic tourists.