Current Affairs for SSC CGL Exams - 23 November 2015

:: National ::

PM Modi urges for not providing shelter to terrorists at ASEAN

Prime Minister Narendra Modi suggested a multi-pronged approach for combating international terrorism
Making an intervention at the East Asia Summit (EAS), he emphasised the need for building a new global resolve and new strategies for combating terrorism, without balancing them against political considerations.
Mr. Modi said India drew strength from its diversity and his government was working to create an environment where enterprise flourished and everybody got basic needs like shelter, sanitation, water, health care and education.
Development in India was “gathering speed now” amid the global slowdown and the country was growing at 7.5 per cent with faster growth expected in the coming years.

ASEAN Summit Statement

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) was proclaimed a community through a declaration signed by the ASEAN leaders at its 27th Summit
This was a historic development and an important milestone in the evolution of the 10-member grouping since its founding in 1967.
The leaders endorsed “ASEAN 2025: Forging Ahead Together,” which charts the path for community building over the next 10 years. The forward-looking road map articulates the ASEAN goals and aspirations to realise “consolidation, integration and stronger cohesiveness as a community.”
The people in the region would benefit from enhanced sustainable environmental governance and practices, equitable access to opportunities, ease of intra-ASEAN travel and doing business and mobility of skilled labour.
ASEAN would be a community, where improvements in transport linkages and infrastructure help people and businesses move efficiently
The ASEAN Economic Community will focus on creating an integrated and well-connected economy which will be business-friendly, trade-facilitative and market-driven to inspire investor confidence
The signatories to the declarations areBrunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, MalaysiaMyanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

INS Viraat

Fifty-seven-year-old and the oldest serving aircraft career, INS Viraat , Indian Navy’s flagship for over a decade before another aircraft carrier INS Vikramaditya was commissioned in 2013, is being offered to States to be converted into a national maritime museum after it is decommissioned next year, after the International Fleet Review to be held here during February.
Andhra Pradesh is the first to approach the Defence Ministry to allot the ship to the State so that it could be converted into a tourist attraction.

Vivekananda statue has been unveileded at Kuala-lumpur

Prime Minister Narendra Modi unveiled a 12-ft bronze statue of Swami Vivekananda in Malaysia, saying the sage is neither the name of a man nor identity of a system but personifies 1,000-year-old Indian culture.
Swami Vivekananda was first who gave the concept of ’One Asia’

Interceptor missile engages simulated target over sea

India’s ballistic missile defence system received a boost after an upgraded version of the indigenously developed interceptor missile was successfully launched against an electronically simulated target missile over the Bay of Bengal.
This would enable the missile to carry a bigger warhead, reduce the cost and facilitate faster production of the missile.
India plans to deploy a two-tiered ballistic missile defence system to protect important cities and vital installations from enemy attack.
The first phase of the system seeks to destroy incoming enemy missiles of 2,000-km range, while the second phase envisages killing incoming missiles of more than 2,000 km.

Streedhan’ is woman’s exclusive property: SC

The court said ‘streedhan,’ a gift in gold valuables given to a woman by her family, is her “exclusive and absolute property.”
Women judicially separated from their husbands can invoke the domestic violence law to get ‘streedhan’ back
Judicial separation is a period of suspension of marriage granted by the court. This time may be used by the couple to explore the possibilities of reviving their broken marriage. If the result is negative, the court annuls their marriage with a decree of divorce.
SC said the woman, who had suffered domestic and economic abuse at her matrimonial home, continued to be a victim or an “aggrieved person” under the domestic violence law even after her judicial separation. The court said the legal relationship of a husband and wife continued during the period of judicial separation.
Castigating the Tripura High Court for depriving an “agonised and perturbed wife” of her absolute right over her ‘streedhan,’ the Supreme Court said she had every right to invoke the domestic violence law to protect herself from both domestic and economic abuse she suffered at the hands of her in-laws.

:: International ::

Tension in Crimea again

Crimea declared a state of emergency on Sunday after its main electricity lines from Ukraine were blown up, leaving the Russian-annexed peninsula in darkness after the second such attack in as many days.
More than 1.6 million people are without power, water supplies to high-rise buildings have stopped.
The Black Sea peninsula produces only 30 percent of its own energy needs, according to the regional government.

:: India and World ::

Rafale deal likely to be concluded before France President visit

After an impasse over technicalities, India and France are working to finalise the agreement for the direct purchase of 36 Rafale fighter jets before the visit of French President Fancois Hollande to India as the chief guest of the next Republic Day parade.
Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar said the deal was “in the final stages of price negotiations” and issues such as the 50 per cent offset clause had “almost been sorted out”.
The ofset issue had been one of the major sticking points in the negotiations.
During his visit to Paris in April, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the direct purchase through a government- to-government deal as quickly as possible in view of the “critical operational necessity” of the Air Force, sidestepping the original medium multi-role combat aircraft (MMRCA) contest.
However, negotiations by the high-powered committee set up to negotiate the terms and conditions for the deal and recommend a draft agreement hit a road block over the issue of ofsets and changes in configuration sought by the Air Force.
Ofset clause applies for defence deals worth over Rs. 300 crore under which companies are to invest 30 per cent of the value of the contract back in the country.
For the MMRCA deal, the government had fixed it at 50 percent.
In addition, the Air Force wanted some structural changes to the aircraft to incorporate the indigenously built “Astra” beyond visual range (BVR) missiles.
The Air Force urgently needs new fighter aircraft to arrest the depleting fighter strength as MiG-21s and -27s are phased out and induction of the indigenous light combat aircraft has been repeatedly delayed.
It is still unclear if the Defence Ministry intends to order additional Rafale jets over and above the 36 or how it intends to replace the MiGs.

:: Business and Economy ::

RBI likely to keep interest rate unchanged in December

Higher retail inflation, coupled with the possibility of a U.S. Fed rate increase in December, may prompt the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Raghuram Rajan to keep the repo rate unchanged in the December policy review.
The central bank, which reduced interest rates by 50 basis points (bps) in the October policy review, will meet again on December 1 to review its monetary policy stance.
The central bank had reduced the benchmark interest rate by 125 bps to 6.75 per cent so far this year as inflation eased and the economic recovery stayed tentative.
The consumer price index-based inflation — RBI’s main gauge for measuring price rise — inched up to five per cent in October, up for the third straight month, compared with 4.41 per cent in the preceding month.
This was mainly due to an increase in some food prices in addition to festival related demand.
The RBI had expected retail inflation to go up after September as the favourable base efect wanes.
The central bank had also emphasized the need for pro-active supply- side management by the government to head of any food price pressures, especially in respect of onion and pulses.
The central bank has projected 5.8 per cent inflation for January 2016. Inflation, however, is expected to stay within the central bank’s comfort zone, market participants said.
The RBI has set a target of six per cent inflation for January 2016.

Arun Jaitley to meet PSB heads today

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley will meet heads of PSU banks on Monday to discuss various issues, including bad loans and interest rate reduction, in light of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) lowering its policy rate in September.
The performance review meeting of public sector banks (PSBs) will also take stock of the credit flow to productive sectors to spur economy and review of ‘Indradhanush’, the seven-pronged strategy to revive PSBs.
The government in August announced the programme, which includes Rs.70,000- crore capital infusion in PSBs in four years, starting with Rs.25,000 crore this fiscal, and measures to de-stress banks by introducing governance reforms.
The gross NPAs of PSBs rose to 6.03 per cent at the end of June 2015, as against 5.20 per cent in March 2015.

Implications of rise of chineese currency on India

The international Monetary Fund (IMF) is poised to approve the inclusion of China’s renminbi (oryuan as it is called) as a reserve currency later this month.
The implications of that would be several. Above all, it is an acknowledgement by the global community of China’s economic prowess.
The world’s second largest economy will have to be given its due place in the global financial architecture.
China’s quest for a reserve status for its currency has for long been in the making. Way back in 2009 senior Chinese monetary oicials advocated the replacement of the US dollar as the dominant international currency with a group of currencies administered by the IMF.
Such an advocacy tantamount to a drastic overhaul of the global financial order seemed too premature at that time and in any case was ignored by the US and other developed countries.
The expectation that the yuan or the renminbi will acquire reserve currency status is no longer a pipe dream. What in 2009 appeared to be, at best a vision, is now very much in the realm of possibility.
It will certainly mark a big step for the Chinese currency although opinion among experts seems divided on how significant the inclusion of the yuan in the global currency basket will be.
The prospect of the yuan joining currencies such as the dollar, euro, yen and sterling in backing the IMF’s Special Drawing Rights has been variously described as everything from a symbolic move to the dawn of a new era.
SDRs are the IMF’s unit of account restricted to its members. The SDR basket is the basis of IMF’s lending made up of the world’s most liquid currencies and hence suitable for any member country that needs support for its balance of payments.