Current Affairs for SSC CGL Exams - 22 January 2016

:: NATIONAL ::

University revokes the suspension of students

Buckling under pressure from protests and the political backlash after the suicide of Rohith Vemula, the University of Hyderabad (UoH) administration revoked the suspension of the four students who have been camping out in the open for the last 18 days.
The withdrawal of the punishment came on a day when Chief Medical officer Captain Ravindra Kumar, Controller of Examinations Prof. V. Krishna, Chief Warden Dr. G. Nagaraju and a dozen other faculty members resigned from their administrative duties
They took exception to Union Human Resource Development Minister Smriti Irani’s comments on the suicide of the 26-year old research scholar.

Indian classical dancer Mrinalini Sarabhai passed away

Padma Bhushan recipient Mrinalini Sarabhai passed away in Ahmedabad.
Mrinalini Sarabhai was one of the most celebrated Indian classical dancers proficient in Bharatnatyam, Kathakali and Mohiniyattam.

Govt is setting committee to look for security preparedness of defence instalments

In the aftermath of the terrorist attack on the Pathankot Air Force station, the government is setting up a committee to review security preparedness of important defence installations across the country.
Six heavily armed terrorists from Pakistan stormed the airbase on January 2 and the ensuing encounter went on for four days before the terrorists were killed while sev- en soldiers lost their lives.
This raised questions on how terrorists could breach such heavily guarded strategically located military bases.
A specific team is being made. Maybe in another week’s time it will be active. It will visit [the bases] and look into priorities like the risk factor, sensitivity and assets.
In addition, commanding officers of all military bases had been asked to conduct a thorough security assessment and plug loopholes.
Responding to a question on his earlier comment of “losing patience,” Mr. Parrikar said security measures being taken could not be discussed in the open. “Losing patience does not mean that you react instinctively. It means we are increasing our pro-active strength. It cannot be discussed in public.”

After the recommendation on judicial appointment collegium to fill vacancies

The Supreme Court Collegium has made the first move to fill vacancies in the High Courts by recommending transfer and elevation of judges.
After enactment of the National Judicial Appointments Commission law in early 2015, filling of the vacancies, which now stand at over 400, stalled.
The recommendation is the first major step taken by Chief Justice of India T.S. Thakur to fill judicial posts in the High Courts during 2016, a year he said was dedicated to clearing pending cases.
The Chief Justice of the Orissa High Court, D.H. Waghela, is being shifted to the Bombay High Court. Justice Ajit Singh of the Rajasthan High Court is elevated as the Chief Justice of the Gauhati High Court, Justice Dinesh Maheswari of the Allahabad High Court as the Chief Justice of the Meghalaya High Court.
For fresh appointments, a Constitution Bench, led by Justice J.S. Khehar, has asked the Centre to come out with a fresh Memorandum of Procedure in consultation with the CJI.
Law Minister Sadananda Gowda has written to the Chief Ministers and the Chief Justices of the High Courts to send suggestions to improve the Collegium system.

:: INTERNATIONAL ::

Pope Francis said elite should be more sensitive towards poor

Pope Francis has told members of the world’s wealthy political and economic elite that they should not be deaf to the cry of the poor and must consider their own role in creating inequality.
New technologies such as robotics must also not be al- lowed to replace humans with “soulless machines”, he said in a message to the World Economic Forum in Davos.
The Pope, who wrote a ma- jor encyclical on climate change and protection of the environment last year, also urged business leaders to see to it that the planet does not become “an empty garden”.
The annual Davos meeting brings together many of the world’s wealthiest and most powerful people to consider issues such as economics, climate change and war, with an eye to working on solutions to them.
It has been criticised by anti-globalisation activists and others, however, as a forum for organisations that have been responsible for the problems in the first place.
They are boosted by reports such as one from charity Oxfam estimating that 1 per cent of the world’s population owns 99 per cent of the wealth.
Pope Francis, who has made the defence of the poor a hallmark of his pa- pacy and has in the past called money “the dung of the devil”, said businesses and wealthy societies must acknowledge their role in creating poverty.

U.S. report says Pakistan nuclear warhead to be in between 110-130

Pakistan’s nuclear warheads which are estimated to be between 110-130 are aimed at deterring India from taking military action against it, a latest Congressional report has said.
The report also expressed concern that Islamabad’s “full spectrum deterrence” doctrine has increased risk of nuclear conflict between the two South Asian neighbours.
Pakistan’s nuclear arsenal probably consists of approximately 110-130 nuclear war- heads, although it could have more.
Islamabad is producing fissile material, adding to related production facilities, deploying additional nuclear weapons, and new types of delivery vehicles.
CRS is the independent research wing of the U.S. Congress, which prepares periodic reports by eminent experts on a wide range of issues so as to help lawmakers take informed decisions.
Re- ports of CRS are not considered as an official view of the U.S. Congress.
Pakistani and U.S. Officials argue that since the 2004 revelations about a procurement network run by former Pakistani nuclear official A.Q. Khan Islamabad has taken a number of steps to improve its nuclear security and to prevent further proliferation of nuclear-related technologies and materials.

:: BUSINESS & ECONOMY ::

World economic forum’s annual meet at Davos

Blood-letting in global markets is dominating corridor talk as business leaders and policymakers meet in Davos, although so far the view is that it doesn’t signal a financial crisis.
As the World Economic Forum’s annual meeting in Switzerland wrestled with topics ranging from the impact of robots on jobs to gender and wealth inequality, the MSCI World equity index fell to its lowest level since July 2013.
If sustained, the 9.9 per cent fall in the index in January would be the worst monthly loss since 2009, towards the end of the global financial crisis.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) cut its global growth forecasts for the third time in less than a year to 3.4 per cent, as new figures showed that the Chinese economy grew at its slowest rate in a quarter of a century in 2015.
China’s rapid slowdown, combined with a dramatic fall in the price of oil, has spooked investors around the globe.

IMF chief says Chinese economic communication should be better

International Monetary Fund (IMF) Chief Chris- tine Lagarde said China should communi- cate better with its financial market.
The remarks were made at a session at the World Economic Forum in Davos, seen in a video feed monitored by Reuters.
Ms. Lagarde said China is “going through a list of transitions. There is a communication issue, which markets do not like.
Responding to a question on the outlook for reform of China’s State-owned enter- prises, she said that despite the size of the challenge, she believed Beijing would deliv- er such reforms.
The yuan was admitted into the SDR in November last year after the organization said it had met the criteria.

So-lar alliance to be operational in 6 months

An International So- lar Alliance (ISA) is likely to be operational by the middle of 2016.
The initiative was announced by Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, at the Conference of Parties in (COP 21) in Paris last November.
Mr. Modi and French President François Hollande would lay the foundation stone of the alliance at the National Institute of Solar Energy in Gurgaon, Haryana on January 25.
The international alliance is expected to have 121 members.
It comprises of countries with land between the Tropic of Capricorn and the Tropic of Cancer which typically have 300 or more days of sun- shine a year.