Current Affairs for SSC CGL Exams - 23 December 2017

::National::

Fiber Grid will offer IPTV at Rs. 149, 15 MBPS internet bandwidth

• The Andhra Pradesh Fiber Grid Limited (APFGL) is planning to give connections to 25 lakh families in the State. President Ram Nath Kovind will dedicate the AP Fiber Grid Project to the nation at the Secretariat on December 27.
• The President will also launch the associated projects such as Surveillance, Drones and the Virtual Classes during his visit to the State, said APFGL Managing Director Babu A.
• Fiber Grid will offer IPTV at Rs. 149, 15 MBPS internet bandwidth and two telephones for each connection. On December 27, the project will be launched by offering the facility to 1.1 lakh families in the State, the MD said.
• “We laid trunk lines covering 24,000 kilometres and by March end next year, plans are afoot to cover 25 lakh families in 9,000 villages.
• Beneficiaries can use the internet services for agriculture, health, education, banking, e-governance and citizen-centric services,” Mr. Babu said.
• According to a survey, usage of data has increased by 10% in the country.The AP Fiber Grid Project will pave the way for many other digital projects in the State, he said.

China and India must transcend the bilateral dimension says NSA

• China and India must “transcend the bilateral dimension” of their ties for stability in Asia and the world, said National Security Adviser Ajit Doval and China’s State Counsellor Yang Jiechi in their first boundary talks since the Doklam standoff.
• They discussed enhancing confidence-building measures and an “early settlement” of the boundary issue, a statement by the Ministry of External Affairs said.
• The 20th round of the Special Representative talks, which officials said were held in New Delhi under an extended mandate that went beyond boundary issues, referred repeatedly to the consensus reached by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping on the subject of bettering bilateral relations.
• So the special representatives meeting [followed] the consensus of the state leaders … so as to achieve win-win cooperation and mutual benefits,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying said in Beijing in an interaction on Friday.
• The consensus between the two leaders at Xiamen and on the sidelines of the SCO conference in Astana in June underscored the need to prevent differences from becoming disputes, as well as the need for China and India to maintain an island of stability in an increasingly unpredictable global scenario.
• Mr. Yang’s visit acquiressignificance as his stature has risen in China’s official hierarchy.

Palestine values India’s support to the cause of peace in West Asia

• Palestinians are proud of India and India’s support to the cause of peace in West Asia, the Ambassador of Palestine said, hours after India voted in favour of a negotiated solution to the issue of Jerusalem and against U.S. President Donald Trump’s recognition of the holy city as the capital of Israel.
• Ambassador Adnan Abu Alhaija’s comments came even as the government was praised by the Communist Party of India for voting against the U.S. recognition of Jerusalem as the Israeli capital.
• However, Israeli Ambassador Daniel Carmon reiterated his country’s claim to Jerusalem in the backdrop of the developments at the UN General Assembly.
• “Jerusalem always was the capital of the Jewish people, is and will continue to be the capital of modern Israel. No vote at the General Assembly can change that,” he said.
• India’s reaction to Mr. Trump’s statement had indicated that India would vote for the UN resolution.Arab countries had also reached out to India for its coveted vote.
• The resolution moved by the Arab countries received 128 votes for and nine against, with 35 countries abstaining.
• The government has taken the right decision by supporting the resolution at the UN, which reflects India’s traditional policy on Palestine, as it is a highly sensitive issue.
• Significantly, the government faced criticism from within for the vote, with Rajya Sabha member Swapan Dasgupta coming out against the UN resolution.
• The Palestinian Ambassador, however, said the resolution was a clear sign that Israel could not lay any exclusive claim to Jerusalem.

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::International::

Palestinian President said he would “no longer accept” any peace plan proposed by the U.S.

• Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said that he would “no longer accept” any peace plan proposed by the U.S., dealing a pre-emptive blow to a fresh initiative expected by Washington next year.
• The comments in Paris came hours after 128 members of the UN voted to condemn U.S. President Donald Trump’s decision on December 6 to unilaterally recognise Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.
• That move continues to reverberate in West Asia and European diplomats are pessimistic about the Trump administration’s peace plan, which is being prepared behind closed doors and will be presented to both sides in 2018.
• U.S. Vice-President Mike Pence postponed a trip he was due to make to the region this week, after Palestinian and Arab Christian leaders expressed reluctance to meet him.
• President Abbas hit out at efforts by the U.S. to intimidate countries ahead of the UN vote. “I hope that the others will learn the lesson and understand that you cannot impose solutions by using money and trying to buy off countries.”

U.S. has put Pakistan on notice for providing safe haven to Terrorists

• U.S. President Donald Trump has put Pakistan on notice for providing safe haven to the Taliban and other militant groups, Vice-President Mike Pence has said, warning that the country has much to lose if it does not stop harbouring terrorists on its soil.
• Mr. Pence’s remarks came during an unannounced trip to Afghanistan to assess ground realities in the war-torn country. Mr. Pence held meetings with top Afghan leaders to hear from them the progress on the implementation of Mr. Trump’s new South Asia policy.
• Mr. Trump, while announcing his strategy in August, had promised more troops to Afghanistan and criticised Pakistan for not doing enough to combat terrorism.
• “For too long, Pakistan has provided safe haven to the Taliban and many terrorist organisations, but those days are over. President Trump has put Pakistan on notice,” Mr. Pence told American troops at the Bagram airbase in Afghanistan.
• “As the President said, so I say now: Pakistan has much to gain from partnering with the U.S., and Pakistan has much to lose by continuing to harbour criminals and terrorists.”
• Pakistan reacted sharply to Mr. Pence’s remarks. A Foreign Ministry spokesperson said Mr. Pence’s statement was at “variance” with the “extensive conversations” Pakistan had with the U.S.

::Business and Economy::

India is taking strong stand in negotiation in RCEP

• In a sign that India’s Free Trade Agreement (FTA) negotiations could slow further, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) has taken a strong stand that the country should restrain itself from concluding any such pact from which it would not gain in the medium term.
• This was evident in Foreign Secretary S. Jaishankar’s comments before the Department Related Parliamentary Standing Committee on Commerce in June.
• The panel’s report on ‘trade with Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN)’ showed that Mr. Jaishankar had “called for observance of due restraint and not conclude trade arrangements which are not to our medium term advantage.”
• According to the panel’s report, the senior official “submitted that a lot of our [India’s free trade] agreements have not served as well as they could have.”
• The report, released on December 18, is significant coming ahead of the ASEAN-India commemorative summit to be held on January 25, where the issue of the long-delayed Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) will likely take centre stage.
• In a first, all 10 heads of ASEAN states led by the grouping’s current chairperson, Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, will attend the ASEAN-India summit and be the joint chief guests at the Republic Day Parade on January 26.
• In an interview during a visit in 2016, Mr. Lee had urged India to take a more “liberal approach” on freeing up trade and promoting regional integration.
• Mr. Jaishankar had said that “though larger FTAs are important for getting preferential access to the markets, it is important to be cautious about the manner in which such arrangements work out in respect of our imports as well as on our efforts to increase the share of manufacturing sector in our economy.”
• The RCEP is a proposed mega-regional FTA involving the 10 member countries of ASEAN and its six FTA partners including India, China, Japan, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand.
• Mr. Jaishankar stressed that India’s external trade arrangements must be supportive of the Make in India initiative.
• As per the committee’s report, he pointed out that “emphasis in these trade arrangements is mostly on trade in goods and the same enthusiasm is not shared for trade in services. The reluctance in giving market access for trade in services is a big challenge.”
• While there is immense pressure on India in the RCEP negotiations to commit to opening up (90%) of its traded goods, what is troubling the government is the fact that other RCEP countries have so far been lukewarm to India’s demands for greater market access in services, particularly on easing norms on the movement of professionals and skilled workers across borders for short-term work.
• India, which is defensive regarding opening up its goods sector, is currently virtually isolated in the RCEP talks. The next round of talks is in February in Indonesia.
• So far, 20 rounds of negotiations have been held, in addition to five ministerial meetings, three inter-sessional ministerials and one summit level talks between heads of state.
• Significantly, while the India-ASEAN Trade in Goods Agreement was inked and enforced from January 1, 2010, India’s goods trade deficit with ASEAN widened from $4.98 billion in 2010-11 to $14.75 billion in 2015-16, and then narrowed to $9.56 billion in 2016-17.
• The huge goods trade deficit has led to questions on whether the pact is only helping ASEAN nations and not benefiting India.

PCA is imposed to encourage banks to improve their financial health

• The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has once again clarified that prompt correction action (PCA) is imposed to encourage banks to improve their financial health.
• The reiteration comes in the wake of rumours on social media that some of the banks that are under PCA could be closed down.
• “The PCA framework is intended to encourage banks to eschew certain riskier activities and focus on conserving capital so that their balance sheets can become stronger,” RBI said.
• There was no question of closing down any public sector bank and added that the government was strengthening banks by recapitalising them.
• Auto-Expo will focus on the entire mobility ecosystem
• ‘Auto Expo – The Motor Show 2018’, the next edition of the biennial industry meet, will focus on the entire mobility ecosystem, a move away from just being a forum showcasing motor vehicles.
• Six special zones dedicated to automotive innovations, offering a virtual experience of driving connected and autonomous electric vehicles, displaying heritage and super cars, turning the spotlight on application vehicles, and highlighting initiatives to curb counterfeiting, would form part of the show.
• The expo will be held at the India Expo Mart in Greater Noida, from February 9-14. A day ahead of the formal inauguration on February 8, a media preview and unveiling of new models is scheduled.
• The show, with ‘Co-create, co-exist and celebrate’ as its theme, is being organised by SIAM in association with the Automotive Component Manufacturers Association of India (ACMA) and CII.
• Chairman of SIAM Trade Fair group Arun Malahotra counted EVs and innovative technologies among the highlights of the show. An Auto Gaming Arena would form part of the six zones where the first all India Auto Gaming Championship is to be held.
• SIAM deputy director general Sugato Sen and director, Head Trade Fair & Events, Debasish Majumder said a special emoji was being created by Twitter for the show and booking of online entry tickets had begun.

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