Current Affairs for SSC CGL Exams - 25 October 2016

:: National ::

In a coordinated joint operation by the elite anti-Naxal strike force of Andhra Pradesh, the Greyhounds and the Special Operation Group of Odisha, 24 members of the banned CPI (Maoist) including a few top leaders, were shot dead.
This is the biggest blow the police have inflicted on the Maoists in a single operation in this area. Earlier, in the Kopparadangi encounter, 17 Maoists (then with People’s War Group) were killed.
Though the DGP of AP N. Sambasiva Rao claimed that routine combing party chanced upon the Maoist camp and an exchange of fire took place, sources in the police say that it was a planned operation.
Odisha Police had the information of the Maoist camp and sought the help of the Greyhounds.

In a huge victory for equal right to worship for women, the Haji Ali Dargah Trust conceded before the Supreme Court that it has resolved to allow women to enter the sanctum sanctorum of the famed dargah in Mumbai on a “par with men”.
“The foundations of the value of equality are deeply-rooted in the structure of Islam, the value of equality is not simply a matter of constitutional rights or agreement of noblemen or condescending charity,” the Trust said in an affidavit.
The affidavit said the “Trust believes in the complete equality of men and women as envisaged in Islam and to give effect to the said principle of equality have decided that both men and women shall be allowed to enter the room.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi strongly condemned triple talaq, arguing that in the 21st century, the “lives of Muslim women cannot be allowed to be ruined” by the contentious custom.
He appealed to the media not to give the debate on the issue a “Hindu-Muslim” colour, while calling for an informed discussion on the issue with experts and intellectuals from the Muslim community.
Hitting out at Opposition parties, Mr. Modi said he was “shocked” that they were “hell-bent on committing injustice to women in the 21st century,” in their “lust for [the] vote bank.”
Mr. Modi raised the issue of triple talaq among Muslims while condemning the practice of female foeticide among Hindus, stressing that “sisters, mothers and daughters should be protected irrespective of community or religion”.
Though Mr Modi has made veiled references to the issue of triple talaq during his Dasara speech in Lucknow, the Bundelkhand rally was the first time he has directly expressed views on the rights of Muslim women in the ongoing debate.
He said the debate on triple talaq must engage the intellectuals and experts from the Muslim community.

Adispute between Iraq and Turkey has emerged as a dramatic geopolitical sideshow to the complicated military campaign to retake Mosul, Iraq’s second-largest city, from the Islamic State (IS).
President of Turkey has insisted on a role in the battle for Mosul, trying to ramp up an involvement in Iraq that has already alarmed the Iraqi government.
In response, the normally mild-mannered Iraqi Prime Minister, warned last week of a military confrontation between Turkey and Iraq. If Turkish forces intervene in Mosul, he said, they will not “be in a picnic.”
The rift is no mere diplomatic row; it is a stark example of the complete breakdown in sovereignty of not just Iraq but Syria as well.
For almost a year, U.S. diplomats have sought to contain the crisis. They have encouraged the Turks to respect Iraq’s sovereignty and aid the fight against the IS by carrying out activities under the umbrella of the U.S.-led coalition.
But Turkey has kept its troops in Bashiqa, a deployment the Iraqi government says it never approved.
Turkey has a number of strategic reasons for maintaining a military presence in northern Iraq.
It wants a bulwark against the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, which is waging an insurgency in southeast Turkey and keeps bases in the mountains of northern Iraq.

Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) started the first set of a series of ground and aerial tests related to the critical moon landing of Chandrayaan-2.
ISRO Satellite Centre or ISAC, which is the lead centre for the country’s second moon mission, has artificially created eight to ten craters to make the terrain resemble the lunar surface. This terrain is now the test bed for the lunar Lander’s sensors.
The campaign for the Lander tests of Chandrayaan-2 has started. The tests are conducted over the craters simulated at Chitradurga.”
Chandrayaan-2 is tentatively marked for late 2017 or early 2018 launch and includes a soft-landing on moon and operating a rover on its surface.
Landing on an alien surface is a very complicated activity, said Dr. Annadurai, who was also the Project Director for the successful Chandrayaan-1 of 2008. The success of the Lander hinges on the sensors.
As the Lander descends from the mother ship or Orbiter, its sensors must judge the distance to the lunar surface.

The Reserve Bank of India said on Monday that the number of debit cards misused in the recent revelation of fraud was ‘few’.
This followed a meeting that the central bank had with select bankers.
“The number of cards misused, as per currently available information, is few,” the central bank said. Apart from banks, National Payment Corporation of India and card network operators also participated in the meeting.
“The issue is currently being investigated by an approved forensic auditor, under PCI-DSS (Payment Card Industry-Data Security Standard) framework,” the bank said.

NITI Aayog Vice-Chairman Arvind Panagariya took on critics of the Centre's proposals to levy a cess on top of the GST with four tax slabs ranging from six per cent to 26 per cent apart from a zero-tax category.
Moving to just two rates or a single GST rate, instead of the four rates in the range proposed by the finance ministry to the GST Council, could trigger inflation in some products and services, Mr. Panagariya said.
The cess on GST would help the Centre compensate states for revenue losses for five years and could be wound down after that, he pointed out, as opposed to the alternative of imposing higher GST rates.
Till 1999, there were about 11 rates of excise duty – which Yashwant Sinha as Finance Minister modified to three rates – 8 per cent, 16 per cent and 24 per cent. Since then, the rates have changed a lot and we again have multiple tax rates.
100 per cent of the cess proceeds will go to the Centre and the advantage of cess is it’s supposed to be temporary.
If it is imposed for the specific purpose of compensating the states, then it will be dropped after five years and you will get a lower rate.