Current Affairs for SSC CGL Exams - 26 January 2016

:: NATIONAL ::

India and France concludes Rafale deal

India and France on Monday signed 14 agreements, including an intergovernmental agreement for the purchase of Rafale fighter jets, nuclear reactors, French railway loco-motives and a major commitment to counter terror cooperation.
However, while the much- speculated-about Rafale agreement was inked, the financial component of the deal is yet to be finalised.
The two leaders came together for their official bilateral talks a day before participating in the Republic Day parade.
This is the fifth time a French President is going to be our chief guest,” Mr. Modi said, explaining that as India’s first strategic partner, and one of the first civil nuclear partners.
In a joint statement, the two sides said they would embark on new ways of cooperation on fighting terrorism, including intelligence-sharing and joint exercises along with the annual strategic dialogues and a joint working group on counter terrorism meetings.
They called for “decisive action to be taken against Lashkar-e-Tayibba, Jaish-e-Mohammad, Hizb-ul-Mujahideen, the Haqqani Network and other terrorist groups such as Al Qaeda.
They urged Pakistan to bring to justice the perpetrators of the Pathankot and Gurdaspur attacks and the 2008 Mumbai at- tack, in which two French nationals were among those killed.

President looking for clarification before giving assent to president rule in Arunachal

President Pranab Mukherjee seemed poised to take a call on the Centre’s recommendation to impose President’s rule in Arunachal Pradesh, after he sought clarifications from Home Minister Rajnath Singh.
The Congress called the recommendation unconstitutional, with party vice-president Rahul Gandhi directly attacking Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Lance Naik Goswami gets Ashok chakra posthumously

Lance Naik Mohan Nath Goswami from the Army’s elite Para Special Forces has been awarded the Ashok Chakra, the country’s highest peacetime gallantry award, posthumously for his role in saving two colleagues during an encounter with militants in Kashmir last year.
Another of his colleague, Subedar Mahendra Singh was awarded Kirti Chakra for his valiant actions in the same operation.
These are among the 365 gallantry awards and other defence decorations approved by President Pranab Mukherjee on the eve of the 67th Republic Day Celebrations.
These include four Kirti Chakras, 11 Shaurya Chakras, one Bar to Sena Medal, 48 Sena Medals, four Nao Sena Medals, two Vayu Sena Medals in addition to 298 Distinguished Service medals.

Rajnikanth, Sri Sri Ravi Shankar among others in Padma Vibhushan list

Rajnikanth actor, Girija Devi: Classical vocal, Ramoji Rao: Literature and education, Dr. V Shanta: Medicine, Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Spiritualism, Jagmohan: Public affairs, Dr. Vasudev Kalkunte: Science and Technology, Avinash Dixit: Literature and education and Late Dhirubhai Ambani all got Padma Vibhushan.
Anupam Kher, Vinod Rai, Udit Narayan Jha, Saina Nehwal , Sania Mirza were among those got Padma Bhushan.
Padma Shri awardee includes Ajay Devgan, Priyanka Chopra, M.c. Mehta among others.

:: INTERNATIONAL ::

U.S. Blizzard take 30 life's

The icy streets of the U.S. capital remained largely deserted on the first work day after a mammoth blizzard smothered the East Coast, with schools and the federal government closed as people dug their cars and doorways out from mountains of snow.
The storm was blamed for at least 30 deaths as it slammed a dozen States from Friday into early Sunday, many of them people who suffered heart attacks while shovelling, or killed on icy roads, though several died of carbon monoxide poisoning trying to keep warm in their cars or homes.
More than 56 cm of snow paralysed Washington, while the 68 cm that fell in New York’s Central Park was the second- highest accumulation since records began in 1869.

:: India and world ::

France committed 2200 crores for global development of solar energy

French President Francois Hollande committed €300 million over the next five years for the global development of solar energy and said the real challenge was to at- tract investments worth a trillion dollars to promote the renewable source.
Through this solar alliance, the French President said, he would like to open a new chapter to help give countries with no resources other than the sun an opportunity to produce electricity for meeting the needs of most of their people.
The International Solar Alliance, envisaged to bring together 122 countries that lie wholly or partly between the Tropic of Cancer and the Tropic of Capricorn, is an ini- tiative announced by Mr. Mo- di at the COP 21 Summit in Pa- ris in November.
The member countries are to be those that enjoy 300 or more days in a year of bright sunlight.
The Alliance, Mr. Hollande said, would focus on three broad areas. “First, it is about pooling together the requests of countries with a huge potential in order to reduce their cost of capital. Second, it is about opening the markets in order to reduce the cost of in- vestment. Third, it is about transferring the necessary technology and know-how from developed to developing countries,”.

Three Agreements for expanding space partnership

At least three of the 14 agreements signed by India and France on Monday were on expanding space collaboration.
The Indian Space Research Organisation and its French counterpart CNES (National Centre for Space Studies) agreed to work together in the next Mars mission, as well as a satellite launch and a thermal infrared observation mis- sion.
Under the ‘Make in India’ banner, India and France signed a deal that will allow French industrial major Alstom to make 800 high horse power locomotives in India.
The locomotives are expected to be made in the electric locomotives factory in Madhepura, Bihar.
Both sides also signed an agreement on upgrading the Delhi-Chandigarh line to 200 kmph, in keeping with Franc- e’s special focus on the Chandigarh ‘Smart City’ project.
The broad spectrum covered by the range of agreements marked continuity in bilateral ties.
In the joint statement, France also committed itself to supporting India’s bid for a permanent seat on the U.N. Security Council and India’s accession to the multilateral (nuclear) export control regimes in 2016 itself.

:: Business and Economy ::

French companies will active part in Make in India and Skill India projects

French companies are likely to invest almost $10 billion in India in the next five years and a major portion of this will be in the industrial sector making France an important player in the Indian government’s Make in India initiative to boost the manufacturing sector.
France was training the Indian workforce under the ‘Skill India’ programme and was contributing actively towards it.
French companies account for more than 10 percent of solar capacity installed in India.
There were over 400 French firms in India with a consolidated turnover of about $20 billion and France was the third largest foreign investor in India.
French Development Agency (FDA) to earmark 60 per cent of to- tal financial outlay to India.
FDA, which finances development-oriented projects, operates in 70 countries. FDA committed euro 8.1 billion in 2014 in places across the world for many such projects.

Government is looking at the report given by Parthasarathi shone on Tax reforms

The government is considering the recommendations of the Parthasarathi Shome committee aimed at simplifying tax administration, FM Arun Jaitley said.
Among the key proposals of the Tax Administration Re- form Commission (TARC), headed by Dr. Shome, was a suggestion that Income Tax Return forms should also include wealth tax details.
The panel had mooted that retrospective amendments to tax laws should be avoided as a principle and that the post of Revenue Secretary be abolished.
Other recommendations were for the CBDT and the CBEC to be merged and for the use of Permanent Ac- count Number (PAN) to be widened.
The TARC, which was appointed by the UPA Government, submitted its report to Mr. Jaitley in June 2014.
Mr. Jaitley said that the proposal for reducing corporate tax from 30 per cent to 25 per cent over 4 years along with removal of corresponding tax exemptions that he had made in his last Budget would make the tax system cleaner and simpler and will ensure that “oppressive taxman does not hover over us”.