Current Affairs for SSC CGL Exams - 27 May 2016

:: National ::

Kerala exchequer to loose significant amount due to NGT orders

The State exchequer is to loose more than Rs.135 crore annually owing to curbs imposed by the National Green Tribunal’s Kochi Circuit bench on registration of diesel vehicles above 2000-cc in six cities in the State.
Besides, the State will have to mobilise over Rs.270 crore for part repayment of motor vehicle tax to owners of 94,000 non-transport vehicles and 91,000 transport vehicles.
More than 1.85 lakh motor vehicles powered by HSD and older than 10 years are to be phased out in the next five years, according to the NGT order.
Rs.270 crore, the amount to be repaid, was worked out on the basis of 40 per cent depreciation to vehicles.
The State collects one-time motor vehicle tax for a 15-year period. As diesel vehicles have to be phased out, the report said, the tax collected for the remaining five years would have to be repaid.

Apex court allowed salvagers Girone to go to Italy

With the Centre endorsing his plea to return to Italy on ‘humanitarian grounds’, the Supreme Court allowed Italian marine Salvatore Girone to go home.
He will have to return if an international tribunal decides that India has jurisdiction to try the marines for the deaths of two Kerala fishermen in 2012.
In September 2014, the court had allowed Mr. Girone’s compatriot and co-accused in the case, MassimilianoLatorre, to leave for Italy after he suffered a stroke.
The decision to let Mr. Girone go was taken after the Supreme Court was informed that the tribunal may give its verdict only by December 2018.
A Vacation Bench laid down conditions for releasing Mr. Girone, including that he continue to remain under the jurisdiction of the Supreme Court and report to the local police station in Italy once every month.
Also, the Italian authorities will keep the Indian embassy informed.

PM appeal to every section for women empowerment

Marking two years of NDA rule at a well-attended farmers’ rally, Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke on women's issues, showcasing the Centre’s ‘Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao’ scheme to improve the sex ratio and educate the girl child.
“If India’s girl child is not empowered, how can the nation be empowered?” Mr. Modi asked.
He suggested that doctors in the country treat poor women for free on the ninth day of every month.
He also announced that the Union Cabinet would raise the retirement age of doctors working with the State as well as Central governments to 65.
While Mr. Modi steered clear of criticising the Akhilesh Yadav government in the State that goes to polls next year, he said that as a former Chief Minister, he believed in putting money in the hands of States.
Speaking before Mr. Modi, however, Home Minister Rajnath Singh was clear in his appeal, invoking Lord Ram to exhort the people to vote the BJP back to power.

Apex court asks centre to frame uniform policy for financial compensation of rape victims

The Supreme Court asked the Centre to frame a uniform national policy to financially compensate rape victims, while terming the Nirbhaya Fund a mere “lip service”.
A Vacation Bench led by Justice P.C. Pant said there was too much dichotomy and contradiction among States regarding compensation schemes for rape survivors.
The Bench issued notice to the Centre, States and Union Territories on the question of effective implementation of Section 357 A of the Code of Criminal Procedure.
This provision mandates States to co-ordinate with the Centre to prepare a scheme for providing funds to compensate and rehabilitate victims or dependents.
“Setting up of the Nirbhaya Fund is not enough and it is just paying lip service. The Union of India must ensure that adequate relief is being provided to the victims of sexual offences,” the Bench observed orally.
Senior advocate and amicus curiae Indira Jaising said the victim compensation scheme has been notified only in 25 States.

:: International ::

Clear discussions on boundary negotiations between India and China

Cordial and clear discussions on sensitive issues marked India-China talks during President Pranab Mukherjee’s visit to Beijing but no significant change in divergent positions was realised.
Meetings with President Xi Jinping, Prime Minister Li Keqiang and National Peoples’ Congress chairman Zhang Dejiang marked a busy third day of a four-day visit by Mr. Mukherjee to China.
Mr. Mukherjee’s delegation apprised its Chinese counterparts about India’s aims to rapidly expand its civilian nuclear programme in line with the country’s energy needs. He also asked Mr. Xi to give this matter “personal attention”.
Director-General of Asian region in China’s ministry of foreign affairs, briefing the press following the meeting also said that the two leaders “agreed to strengthen cooperation in the peaceful uses of nuclear energy”.
Mr. Mukherjee led a delegation to meet Mr. Xi after receiving a grand welcome in a ceremony held at the Great Hall of Peace in Beijing.
The two leaders discussed ways to strengthen cooperation in “investment, trade and tourism”.
Specifically, China has also agreed to accommodate more Indian tourists (seven batches or around 400 people this year) to visit Kailash Mansarovar via the Nathu La pass into Tibet.
The two leaders also agreed to advance the ongoing boundary negotiations under the ‘Special Representatives’ mechanism, and at the same time resolved to take actions to maintain peace and tranquillity in the boundary regions.
Mr. Jaishankar said that the Indian delegation had conveyed to the Chinese the need to eliminate cross-border terrorism.

Donald Trump gets required delegates for nominations

Donald Trump secured the support of enough delegates to clinch the Republican presidential nomination, after unbound delegates pledged to back the billionaire, according to U.S. media counts.
Mr. Trump now has the backing of 1,238 delegates, one more than the 1,237 needed, according to the U.S. news agencies.
It said the real estate tycoon’s delegate count rose when a small number of unbound Republican delegates, including Oklahoma party chairwoman Pam Pollard, said they would support him at the convention.
The Republican Party will not make the results official until its national convention in July.
U.S. President Barack Obama said that global leaders are “rattled” by some of Mr. Trump’s statements, blasting the ideas as demonstrating “ignorance” of how the world works.
“They are not sure how seriously to take some of his pronouncements,” he told reporters on the sidelines of the G7 summit. “But they’re rattled by them, and for good reason,” he added.

:: Business and Economy ::

India to WTO Dispute Settlement Body for adjudicating its dispute with the U.S.

India will soon ask the World Trade Organisation (WTO) Dispute Settlement Body to establish a panel of experts to adjudicate its dispute with the U.S. over the increase in visa fees, government sources said.
This follows the failure of India and the U.S. to arrive at an amicable solution during the consultations held on May 11 and 12 under the auspices of the WTO, they said.
India’s decision to seek the setting up of the panel is likely to be announced after Prime Minister’s June 7-8 visit to the U.S.
According to WTO norms, if consultations fail, the complaining country can ask the settlement body to appoint a panel.
India notified the WTO Secretariat that it has “initiated a WTO dispute proceeding against the U.S. regarding measures imposing increased fees on certain applicants for two categories (H-1B and L-1) of non-immigrant temporary working visas into the U.S., as well as measures relating to numerical commitments for some visas.”
According to India, the measures appear to be inconsistent with the U.S. commitments under the General Agreement on Trade in Services.
India said the visa fee increase is “discriminatory” against Indian firms as these (H-1B and L-1) are the same categories that are most extensively used by Indian service suppliers, especially in the information technology sector.
India warned that the U.S.’s decision to continue with the implementation of the visa fee increase could result in other nations deliberately raising customs duties on goods to increase revenue for their domestic programmes.
During the talks, the U.S. denied that there was anything in its legislation specifying that the visa fee hike is applicable only to Indian companies.
The U.S. said there was nothing discriminatory in the legislation against Indian information technology companies, adding that since the visa fee increase is general in nature, it was not violative of any WTO rule.
Washington also informed that the visa fee hike was part of a legislation (the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2016), and therefore it would not be possible to make any changes without addressing the legislation as a whole.
Indian IT industry body Nasscom said the financial implications of the visa fee increase for the technology sector would be around $400 million a year.

Food processing sector to attract more FDI

Foreign direct investment (FDI) in the food processing sector is expected to cross $1 billion in the next two years, helped by reforms in FDI space and streamlining of FSSAI regulations, Union Minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal has said.
The government has announced 100 per cent FDI in marketing of food products produced and processed in India in this year’s Budget.
Besides food parks, she said the rules and regulations of the food regulator FSSAI had been streamlined to boost food processing sector.
The food processing sector has attracted $463 million worth of FDI during April-February of the last fiscal, she added.
According to Ms. Badal, growth of the food processing sector will help farmers get better price for their produce as well as lead to reduction in wastage and lower prices of fruits and vegetables.
To achieve this, the government has taken various steps to create infrastructure at the farm gate level. The ministry had allocated 17 food parks and about Rs.50 crore per food park will be given as grant.
“In the last two years, seven food parks have become operational while during the UPA’s 10-year tenure, only two parks were operationalised,” Ms. Badal averred, adding that the target is to operationalise all 42 mega food parks by 2019.
The minister said once the processing level reaches 20 per cent, consumers would have the option of processed fruits and vegetables and that too, at affordable prices.

RBI governor says China may face sharp slowdown

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Raghuram Rajan cautioned about a “sharp” slowdown in Chinese economy which, he said, remained a “significant risk” for the global economy.
A sharp contraction in China’s imports over the past year, for instance, had already led to spill-overs through the trade, confidence, tourism and remittance channels and SAARC nations had not been able to avert its impact, Mr. Rajan said.
The RBI Governor also lauded the efforts taken by the government in implementing structural reforms to revive growth.
“Leaving aside the Goods and Services Tax (GST) reform, a number of other significant reforms have also taken place, including the recent passage of the new Bankruptcy bill, which is likely to speed up the resolution of distress tremendously,” Mr. Rajan said.