Current Affairs for SSC CGL Exams - 26 June 2017

::National::

PM says strong India is good for the world

• India’s growth presents a win-win partnership for both India and the U.S., Prime Minister Narendra Modi told a group of American CEOs. 
• Mr. Modi addressed the gathering ahead of his first meeting with President Donald Trump.
• The Prime Minister’s pitch before the CEOs of prominent American companies was a prelude to extensive interactions he is expected to have with Mr. Trump and senior members of his cabinet. 
• America's economic and employment recovery is the topmost political priority for the Trump administration.
• Mr. Modi told the CEOs that India considered a stronger and more prosperous America to be in its best interests.
• Some CEOs spoke about the impact of GST , but the Prime Minister explained that the overall impact of the tax reform would be beneficial to all sectors.
• American companies have a great opportunity to contribute to that, Mr. Modi told the CEOs. 
• Reiterating his government’s commitment to reforms, the Prime Minister told the gathering that the “implementation of the landmark initiative of GST could be a subject of studies in U.S. business schools.”
• Mr. Modi said the whole world was looking at India and the government was responding by emphasising economic reforms. 
• He said 7,000 reform measures have been undertaken by the government for ease of doing business and following his maxim of “minimum government, maximum governance.”

World’s most expensive earth-imaging satellite is at stake

• Space scientists in India and America are on tenterhooks as Prime Minister Narendra Modi and U.S. President Donald Trump meet for the first bilateral in Washington.
• At stake is the world’s most expensive earth-imaging satellite till date being jointly made by the NASA and the ISRO.
• The satellite aims to study global environmental change and natural disasters. However, climate change seems to be a red rag for the current American administration.
• Mr. Trump calls climate change a hoax created by China by adhering to his views that “the concept of global warming was created by the Chinese in order to make U.S. manufacturing non-competitive”.
• Recently, the U.S. walked out of the Paris Climate Change Treaty while India continues to honour its commitments.
• Can a middle ground be found or can the jointly-made satellite escape President Trump’s anti-climate change gaze?
• This is what is worrying scientists at Pasadena, a suburb of Los Angeles, where at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory work has begun in full earnest to realise the NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar satellite called NISAR. 
• Scientists at the Space Applications Centre in Ahmedabad are also anxious as they go about fabricating unique components for the massive satellite.

Mysterious Planet 10 lurking in the outer reaches of our solar system 

• A mysterious, unseen ‘Planet 10’ may be lurking in the outer reaches of our solar system, say scientists, including one of Indian origin, who have found evidence of a Mars-like object that could be orbiting our Sun.
• This object would be different from, and much closer than, the Planet Nine — whose existence yet awaits confirmation. 
• The mysterious mass has given away its presence only by controlling the orbital planes of a population of space rocks known as Kuiper Belt objects (KBOs) in the icy outskirts of the solar system.
• While most KBOs — debris left over from the formation of the solar system — orbit the Sun with orbital tilts that average out to the invariable plane of the solar system, the most distant of the Kuiper Belt’s objects do not.
• Their average plane is tilted away from the invariable plane by about eight degrees. This means something unknown is warping the average orbital plane of the outer solar system.

::International::

Global politics over next UNESCO chief 

• The next UNESCO chief should be an Arab and a woman, says MoushiraKhattab, Egypt’s candidate for the post of Director-General of the U.N.’s scientific and cultural body UNESCO. Dr. Khattab canvassed support from India for a keenly contested race.
•  “The Arab world is the one bloc at the U.N. that has never had the opportunity to lead UNESCO. The Arab world deserves that, if you go by principles of democracy and representation,” Dr. Khattab told.
•  “Egypt is the country with the highest rate of decline in female genital mutilation (FGM), and it is one of our success stories. It was taboo to even talk about FGM at one time, and since 2003, we worked on a worldwide effort to stop the practice head-on,” Dr. Khattab said. 
• India is still mulling over its choices, as the External Affairs Ministry prepares for visits from most if not all nine candidates for the UNESCO top job, for which elections are due in October.
• While the post was expected to go to someone from the Arab nations that have never held the position, the race has been complicated by the fact that the bloc could not decide on a single candidate.
• Dr. Khattab now faces three Arab rivals, including senior diplomats and officials from Qatar, Lebanon and Iraq. The recent flare-up between Qatar and Egypt, which followed Saudi Arabia in cutting off diplomatic ties and banning flights, is likely to embitter the contest.
• The importance of this year’s UNESCO elections, held once every four years, can be gauged from the fact that among the other candidates are two permanent members of the U.N. Security Council, China and France. 
• Other candidates in the fray are from Vietnam, Azerbaijan and Guatemala, all of which are expected to make strong pitches in New Delhi.

::Business and Economy:: 

Various challenges to look for at PM Modi’s US visit

• As PM Modi travels to the U.S., it is worth recalling that one of President Trump’s first phone calls following his inauguration was to the Indian leader, where he termed India as a “true friend and partner in addressing challenges around the world.”
• The U.S.-India partnership has historically enjoyed bipartisan support, with successes in defence, security and civil nuclear cooperation over the last two decades. 
• In trade and investment, the U.S. is India’s second-largest trading partner and the fifth-largest source for foreign direct investments. In the last five years, total trade in goods has remained at around $64 billion. 
• In services, there has been a surge, with India’s imports of U.S. services increasing by a third and exports to the U.S. rising more sedately over three years.
• However, in recent months, concerns like the trade deficit and labour mobility threaten to overshadow the otherwise positive trajectory of the relationship. 
• These perspectives overlook the fact that the U.S. is India’s second-largest source of imports, following China. Tariffs on major U.S. products are lower in India than in other countries. 
• In the last three years, the Indian government has rolled out numerous reforms, making India among the most attractive investment destinations. 
• Liberalisation of FDI policies in multiple sectors such as defence production, real estate and insurance, create new opportunities for U.S. firms. The U.S. already ranks fifth in India’s FDI profile. 
• Equally, the U.S. remains a favourite destination for Indian companies. A CII survey of 100 Indian companies in 2015 showed 91,000 jobs were created in the U.S. with investments of over $15.3 billion.
• A critical factor impacting business engagement between the two nations is an unprecedented focus by the U.S. on high-skill labour mobility. Indian firms firmly support weeding out the abuse of the visa system. 
• Many have committed to local hiring, including Infosys, which has announced a plan to hire 10,000 Americans. Social security payments by Indian firms also contribute to the local economy. 
• A major foundation of the relationship is security and defence collaboration. The U.S.-India Defence Technology and Trade Initiative aims to develop strategic partnerships. 

MSCI to add china’s local currency shares 

• Morgan Stanley Capital International (MSCI), a widely-tracked global index provider, said it would add China’s local currency shares, referred to as China ‘A’ shares, to its benchmark emerging markets index, after three years of having rejected overtures on the same.
• It is the world’s biggest index compiler, with more than $10 trillion in assets benchmarked to its products, with emerging markets alone accounting for $2 trillion.
• The indices are closely tracked by global investors. Inclusion in MSCI Inc.’s stock indices opens up investment interest from foreign investors in a particular country and brings a stamp of financial credibility.
• It is an area under the direct jurisdiction of China and excludes special administrative regions of Hong Kong and Macau. Chinese mainland markets were not open to foreign investors.
• So, foreign investors hitherto had access to non-mainland shares — those that are traded in the markets of Hong Kong and Macau. The non-mainland shares have been part of the MSCI Emerging Markets Index. 
• China has been working to ease restrictions on foreign investors, influencing MSCI’s decision now.
• MSCI will add 222 China A shares (shares of large enterprises) starting next year. The stocks, which would represent a weightage of only 0.73% in the benchmark, will be included via a two-phase process in May and August next year.
• Most experts see only minimal impact on the Indian market in terms of outflows. However, MSCI has said it is open to adding more China A shares, provided it opens up its equity market further. 
• If China continues to gain more weightage on the index, more money could well flow out of India.

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