Current Affairs for SSC CGL Exams - 22 March 2017

:: National ::

Supreme Court suggested out-of-court settlement for Ram Janmabhoomi dispute

Suggesting an out-of-court rapprochement among rival parties in the 68-year-old Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid title dispute, CJI advised peace negotiations instead of a pitched court battle, even offering help to settle the fight amicably.
The dispute, which has seen much tension and violence over the past decades, debuted in court in 1950 when Gopal Simla Visharad filed the first suit in the Faizabad civil court for rights to perform pooja to Ram Lalla.
The same year saw Paramahansa Ramachandra Das also file a suit for continuation of pooja and keeping idols in the structure. Nine years later, in 1959, NirmohiAkhara followed with a third suit for directions to hand over the charge of the disputed site.
U.P. Sunni Central Wakf Board filed the fourth suit in 1961 for declaration and possession. The fifth was in 1989 in the name of Ram Lalla Virajman for declaration and possession.
On September 2010, a three-judge Lucknow Bench of the Allahabad High Court held that Hindus have the right to the makeshift temple under the central dome of the Babri Masjid.
The High Court ruled in favour of a three-part division of the disputed 2.77 acre area among the Sunni Waqf Board, NirmohiAkhara and the Ram Lalla at the disputed site. The Bench had relied on Hindu faith, belief and folklore.
The Sunni Waqf Board and other parties filed their appeals in the Supreme Court against the 2010 judgment. The appeals have remained pending in the SC for the past six years.
CJI Khehar said parties should understand that these are sensitive issues involving religious sentiments. They should adopt a give and take approach to arrive at a consensus, he suggested.

NDA government has proposed to make Aadhaar mandatory for ITR

The NDA government has proposed to make Aadhaar mandatory for individuals to apply for a PAN (Permanent Account Number) card and file income tax returns from July 1 this year.
Finance, Defence and Corporate Affairs Minister Arun Jaitley moved an amendment, to this effect, in the draft Finance Bill 2017 that was taken up by the Lok Sabha.
Centre made it mandatory for beneficiaries to quote their Aadhaar number to avail themselves of benefits under the PMKVY for skill development, and the Self Employment Scheme for Rehabilitation of Manual Scavengers.
The Centre had identified 31 schemes in which the Aadhaar could be made mandatory.
Notifications have been issued in recent months by departments to make Aadhaar compulsory for getting subsidised foodgrains under the NFSA, jobs under the MGNREGA and pension benefits under the Employees’ Pension Scheme.
The Cabinet Secretariat has asked all Ministries to issue a notification under Section 7 of the Aadhaar Act, 2016, which makes the use of Aadhaar “an identifier for delivery of subsidies or benefits or schemes” to beneficiaries.

India slipped down one place from 130 to 131 in Human development index

India slipped down one place from 130 to 131 among the 188 countries ranked in terms of human development, says the 2016 Human Development Report (HDR) released by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).
India’s human development index (HDI) value of 0.624 puts it in the “medium human development” category, alongside countries such as Congo, Namibia and Pakistan.
It is ranked third among the SAARC countries, behind Sri Lanka (73) and the Maldives (105), both of which figure in the “high human development” category.
The world’s top three countries in HDI are Norway (0.949), Australia (0.939) and Switzerland (0.939).
The HDI is a measure for assessing progress in three basic dimensions of human development: a long and healthy life, access to knowledge, and access to a decent standard of living.
The report says 1.5 million people worldwide still live in multidimensional poverty, 54% of them concentrated in South Asia. While poverty fell significantly from 1990 to 2015, inequalities sharpened in the region.
South Asia also had the highest levels of malnutrition in the world, at 38%, and the lowest public health expenditure as a percentage of the GDP (1.6%, 2014). India’s public health expenditure was even lower, at 1.4% of the GDP.
However, it did make some gains between 1990 and 2015, improving life expectancy by 10.4 years in this period. Child malnutrition also declined by 10 percentage points from 2015, and there was a modest gain in infant and under-five mortality rates.
The report noted with approval India’s progressive laws, especially the Right to Information, National Food Security, and Right to Education Acts.
Noting that women, on an average, have lower HDI than men across the world, the report pointed out that the largest gender disparity in development was in South Asia, where the female HDI value is 20% lower than the male value.
In South Asia, gender gaps in entrepreneurship and labour force participation caused an estimated income loss of 19%. “Between their first and fifth birthdays, girls in India and Pakistan have a 30% to 50% greater chance of dying than boys,” the report noted.
While India’s HDI value increased from 0.428 in 1990 to 0.624 in 2015, it still had the lowest rank among BRIC nations. However, its average annual growth in HDI (1990-2015) was higher than that of other medium HD countries.

Dalai Lama made another outreach to the Chinese people

Making another outreach to the Chinese people, the Dalai Lama, Tibetan spiritual leader, appreciated their interest in Buddhism.
The moves comes against the backdrop of his much-publicised visit to Northeast India, including Arunachal Pradesh, which the Chinese government has opposed.
The spiritual figure is expected to travel to Guwahati by March-end to begin the Northeast trip. From Guwahati, the Dalai Lama is expected to travel to Tawang, where he will hold a series of ceremonies.
The trip to Tawang has already drawn opposition from Beijing with the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs criticising the plans because of China’s territorial claims over the region.
The response of Mr. Jaishankar underlines the continued differences between India and China over a number of issues including territorial claims, counter-terror measures and Tibet.

Cash transactions above Rs. 2 lakh became illegal

Cash transactions above Rs. 2 lakh could be illegal and attract a 100% fine from April 1 this year.
The Rs. 3 lakh ceiling on cash transactions this year, proposed in the Union Budget, has been revised to Rs. 2 lakh, with the government introducing an amendment to this effect in the Finance Bill taken up for consideration by the Lok Sabha.
The tightening of the cap on cash transactions was one of 40 amendments to the Finance Bill proposed by the Centre.
“In the official amendments to the Finance Bill, the government has proposed that the limit of Rs. 3 lakh for cash transactions, beyond which it is illegal, be reduced to Rs. 2 lakh.

India and Pakistan agreed on redesigning the Miyar Hydroelectric project

India and Pakistan agreed on redesigning the Miyar Hydroelectric project, at the end of two-day talks of Indus Water Commissioners in Islamabad, the state-run media reported here as the official announcement is awaited.
It was also agreed that the Lower Kalnai and the PakalDul projects would be inspected again.
The talks between the two countries began after 22 months when Pakistan in 2015 skipped consultations following objections on the Kishenganga and the Ratle hydroelectric projects by India.
Kishenganga is in arbitration while officials of the two countries are meeting in Washington next month on the Ratle project on the invitation of the World Bank.
Pakistan’s request for arbitration on Ratle is still pending with the World Bank, which is the guarantor of the 1960 Indus Water Treaty.

:: International ::

Amul Thapar nominated to court of Appeals

Amul Thapar, an Indian-American legal luminary, was on Monday nominated by U.S. President Donald Trump to a key judicial position on the Court of Appeals.
If confirmed by the Senate, Mr. Thapar will be part of the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals, which hears appeals from Kentucky, Tennessee, Ohio and Michigan.

:: Business and Economy ::

Demonetisation will start showing positive results on the banks

Demonetisation will start showing positive results on the banks’ bottomlines in the coming years as operating costs decline, said Arun Tiwari, chairman and managing director of the public-sector Union Bank of India.
The operating costs of banks would come down as banks’ customers are being forced to go digital, he said.
He pointed out that every manual cash transaction costs the banks about Rs. 65 (in terms of manpower used and stationery).
ATMs reduced this to Rs. 18, and online transaction to Rs. 10. But, a mobile phone transaction would further cut the cost down to Rs. 2.
He said demonetisation had “temporarily reduced” lending by banks as there was a fall in demand, mainly for personal and vehicle loans. But, he said, this was not business being lost but demand being postponed.
He noted that in the aftermath of demonetisation bank deposits had piled up. If the economy grew at a faster pace, this would not be a problem as there would be more takers for loans.
If not, the banks would have to invest the excess money in government securities.He said that bad loans (non-performing assets, NPAs) and capital adequacy norms were the two major challenges of the banking industry.
The NPA volumes were large, but the rate of growth of NPAs was coming down. A large number of infrastructure companies were operating far below their capacities and hence were not able to repay their loans.

Centre is looking to ease FDI norms in Multi-brand Retail

In a bid to ease Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) norms related to Multi-brand Retail Trading (MBRT), the Centre is looking at ways to get around the BJP’s 2014 Election Manifesto that categorically ruled out FDI in the ‘politically sensitive’ sector.
While the Centre is considering various options including allowing FDI in MBRT of certain non-food items such as health and wellness products, with a rider that they should be locally manufactured, the final call would be a “political” one.
Despite a proposal from the Food Processing Industries Ministry to allow FDI in MBRT of non-food items, the Centre’s current difficulty related to the sensitivity involved in circumventing the BJP’s manifesto.
The manifesto promised that “barring the multi-brand retail sector, FDI will be allowed in sectors wherever needed for job and asset creation, infrastructure and acquisition of niche technology and specialised expertise.”
This assurance to prohibit FDI in MBRT was to allay the fears of local traders, many of whom form the BJP’s core constituency, that allowing foreign investment in the sector would lead to small retailers losing their source of livelihood.
However, ever since the BJP-led coalition came to power at the Centre, the ban on FDI in MBRT has only been a de facto one, as the consolidated FDI policy still retains the decision taken by the previous UPA government, which was to allow 51% FDI in MBRT through the approval route.
The policy stipulates many conditions including on a specified level of minimum investment and local sourcing.
This is not being implemented because several states through their respective Shops & Establishment Act, do not currently allow foreign-owned and controlled firms to open multi-brand retail outlets in their territory.
In order to generate employment in food processing and to attract the latest technologies in the sector, the NDA government, allowed 100% FDI under the government approval route for trading, including e-commerce, in respect of food products manufactured and/or produced in India.
BJP had itself averred in its poll manifesto that the party would strengthen the retail sector through modernisation, use of information technology, as well as through stronger credit and market linkages.

Public sector banks able to recover fraction of loans to Vijay Mallya

Public sector banks have been able to recover only a fraction of the more than Rs. 8,000-crore loan outstanding against embattled businessman Vijay Mallya, the Parliament heard.
Banks had reported Rs. 8,191 crore as loan outstanding against Mr. Mallya as on December 31, 2016, Minister of State for Finance Santosh Kumar Gangwar said in a written reply in the Rajya Sabha.
“As reported by PSBs, amount of Rs. 155 crore has been recovered by conducting online mega auction by selling from seized properties ... of Vijay Mallya.”