Current Affairs for SSC CGL Exams - 27 December 2016

:: National ::

Finance minister says lower taxes will India compete globally

Finance Minister said India needs lower taxes to compete globally and that voluntary tax compliance by citizens should be encouraged by a friendly administration.
We have lived through the last seven decades in India under the impression that if avoidance could be done of government revenue, then there was nothing immoral about this. That was considered commercial smartness,” Mr. Jaitley said.
Payment of legitimate taxes is part of a citizen's duty, and non-payment is visited with severe con-sequences.” According to the Minister, “extraordinarily high taxation rates in the past” have encouraged people to evade taxes.
Tax authorities are judged by the quality of what they write or decide. The level of fairness followed by authorities will define the quality of interpretation of tax laws by authorities.
The voluntary compliance by citizens by payment of due taxes needs to be reciprocated by authorities through a tax-friendly administration.” Mr. Jaitley also told the trainees that tax officers should have high integrity.

Centre released funds for polavaram project

The Centre released ₨1,981.54 crore, through the National Bank for Agricultural and Rural Development (Nabard), for Andhra Pradesh's ambitious ₨16,000-crore Polavaram irrigation project along the Godavari river.
Releasing the amount, FM said this should quell any sense of distrust that the people of the State had developed towards the Centre over funding for the project.
Stressing that returns on investments in irrigation projects for agriculture can be visible by next season as opposed to investments in sectors such as manufacturing, where returns take a ‘reasonably long period' to register.
Using water resources to its optimal level is one of our prime goals and it is import-ant that a very large part of funding goes to this,” Mr. Jaitley said.
Terming the issue of water in the State's dry regions as very sensitive, he said that it took some time for the Centre to find a way to fund the Polavaram project, but it had finally done it.

Additional forces send to Manipur

The Union Home Ministry has rushed additional 4,000 Central police force personnel to Manipur in its efforts to reopen a national highway, which continues to reel under economic blockade called by the United Naga Council (UNC).
With this, the total number of Central security personnel deployed in the sensitive northeastern State for assisting the local administration for maintaining law and order has gone up to 17,500.
Our top priority now is to reopen the National High-way-2 connecting Manipur [to Nagaland]. While the other highway [NH-37] is re-opened, we want to reopen the NH-2 too as early as possible,” govt said.

:: Science and Tech ::

Agni V launch shows India’s nuclear deterrence capability

The test-firing of India’s most formidable ballistic missile, Agni-V , from the Abdul Kalam Island, of the Odisha coast, was an unalloyed success, signalling that India's nuclear deterrence capability has come of age.
This is the fourth success in a row for Agni-V , which can carry a nuclear warhead weighing about 1.5 tonnes over a distance of 5,000 km and plus.
It was the second time that Agni-V was fired from a canister mounted on a massive TATRA truck parked on the Island.
A gas generator at the bottom of the canister kicked out the long-range, three-stage, surface-to-surface missile that weighed 50 tonnes, was 17 metres long and had a two-metre diameter.
The previous Agni-V flight from a canister was on January 31, 2015. A missile launched from a canister mounted on a road-mobile launcher gives it operational flexibility.
This means it can be fired from a road in a city, after stopping the traffic, giving reduced reaction time. The missile can be made vertical in three minutes and the launch takes a few more minutes.
The two stages jettisoned and the missile accelerated as it plunged towards the earth. Its re-entry systems worked perfectly.
The heat-shield made of carbon-car-bon composites and encasing the dummy warhead, withstood a temperature of about 4,000 degrees Celsius. The on-board computer guided the missile towards its impact point in the Indian Ocean.
The bouquet of five Agnis form the bulwark of India's nuclear deterrence capability. While Agni-I has a range of 700 km, Agni-II 2,000 km, and Agni-III 3,000 km, Agni-IV can take out targets 4,000 km away.

:: International ::

China has tested fifth generation stealth fighter

China has tested the latest version of its fifth-generation stealth fighter, as it tries to end the West's monopoly on the world's most advanced warplanes.
The test comes as the nation flexes its military muscles, sending its sole air-craft carrier the Liaoning into the western Pacific in recent days to lead drills there for the first time.
The newest version of the J-31 — now renamed the FC-31 Gyrfalcon — took to the air for the first time.
The so-called “fifth-generation” twin-engine jet is China's answer to the U.S. F-35, the world's most technically advanced fighter.
The new FC-31 has “better stealth capabilities, improved electronic equipment and a larger payload capacity” than the previous version which debuted in October 2012.
AVIC has said that the FC-31 will “put an end to some nations' monopolies on the fifth-generation fighter jet”, the China Daily reported.
China is aggressively moving to develop its domestic weapons industry, from drones and anti-air-craft systems to home-grown jet engines.
In the past it has been accused of copying designs from Russian fighters, and some analysts say the FC-31 bears a close resemblance to the F-35.
When completed, the FC-31 will become the country’s second fifth-generation fighter after the J-20, which put on its first public performance at the Zhuhai Air Show in November.

:: Business and Economy ::

Gold prices hits lowest price in almost a year

Gold prices slumped by ₨250 to hit a more than 11–month low of ₨27,550 per 10 gram at the bullion market due to weak demand from jewellers and lower advices from futures trade.
Silver also fell by ₨210 to ₨38,600 per kg on reduced of take by industrial units and coin makers. Traders said a persistent fall in demand from jewellers and retailers in view of prevailing cash crunch largely weighed on gold prices.
The government on November 8 had scrapped old series ₨500 and ₨1,000 notes to flush out black money, leading to a cash crunch in the market.
Also, investors were clueless about future trends as major world markets such as Singapore, which rule price trends in local markets largely.
Meanwhile, gold in futures continued to trade below the ₨27,000 level in afternoon trade. The February contract of the metal fell to a low of ₨26,916 per gram on MCX commodity exchange.
In the local spot market, gold of 99.9 per cent purity plunged by ₨250 to ₨27,550 per 10 gram – a level not seen since February 4 when it had closed at ₨27,575 per 10 gram.
Gold of 99.5 per cent purity too plunged by ₨250 to ₨27,400 per 10 grams. The precious metal had lost ₨150 in the previous three days.

India’s export of iron items have come under scrutiny

India's exports of certain iron items to the European Union (EU) and shipments of ferro alloys to South Korea have come under the scanner of local authorities in those jurisdictions.
The European Commission (EC) has initiated an investigation into certain items of grey iron and ductile cast iron from India on allegations that they were being ‘dumped' into the EU region.
This, the EC probe suggests, is adversely affecting local industry as these articles are used to cover and, or give access to ground or sub-surface systems.
The complainants also provided ‘evidence' of increase in imports (to the EU) of these items in absolute terms and in terms of their market share in the EU.
The investigation will cover the period from October 1, 2015 to September 30, 2016. The examination of trends relevant for the assessment of injury will cover the period from January 1, 2013 to September 30, 2016.
EC said it may limit the investigation to a limited sample of such exporters and producers so that the probe can be completed within the statutory time limits. It asked all interested parties to provide information regarding the sample selection.
The EC had earlier imposed countervailing (anti-subsidy) duty and anti-dumping duty on imports of tubes and pipes of ductile cast iron from India. Iron, steel and their re-lated articles have been among India's main exports to Europe.