Current Affairs for SSC CGL Exams - 28 January 2017

:: National ::

All applications challenging Jallikattu to be heard on Jan 31

The Supreme Court said all applications filed to challenge Tamil Nadu’s amendment of the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act of 1960, allowing jallikattu to be held in the State, will be heard on January 31, 2017.
Centre has filed an application seeking to withdraw its notification, bringing bulls back into the stable of performing animals under the 1960 Act in the light of the new law passed by the Tamil Nadu State Assembly.
Government’s application would also be heard along with the applications filed by Animal Welfare Board of India (AWBI), Compassion Unlimited Plus Action, other animal rights organisations and activists.

23rd edition of CII Partnership started

The 23rd edition of CII Partnership Summit and the second Sunrise Andhra Pradesh Investment Meet began on a grand note with 128 MoUs signed for an investment of about Rs. 4.25 lakh crore.
This could lead to generation of as many as 5. 5 lakh jobs. About 2,000 delegates with representatives from 50 countries attended the first day of the two-day summit.
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley promised hand-holding for AP to become most developed State due to injustice done to it during bifurcation.
CM N. Chandrababu Naidu announced development of Visakhapatnam, Amaravati and Tirupati as mega cities, 14 smart cities and creating economic cities in 100 to 300 acres in all the 110 municipalities.
Union Minister for Urban Development M. Venkaiah Naidu said the Centre had high regard for AP and it would continue to extend special treatment to the State in sanctioning of various projects.

Rural economy impacted due to drought and demonetisation

Drought and demonetisation of Rs. 1,000 and Rs. 500 currency notes appear to have cast a spell on rural credit in Tamil Nadu.
Fewer farmers have taken short-term crop loans through primary agricultural cooperative societies (PACSS) during the current financial year.
As on December 31, 2016, the number of farmers who availed themselves of loans was around 5.44 lakh, about 3.25 lakh lower than the previous year on the corresponding day.
Between April and December 2016, a sum of Rs. 3,028 crore was disbursed, whereas 8.69 lakh farmers had taken loans to the tune of approximately Rs. 4,712 crore during the corresponding period in 2015.
The successive failure of two monsoons — southwest and northeast — has affected several sections of farmers.
A few days ago, the Union Cabinet decided to provide a waiver of 4 % interest upfront to those who took loans between April 1, 2016 and September 30, 2016.
In Tamil Nadu, those who make prompt repayment of loans do not have to pay interest as the Central government provides 3 % rebate and the State government 4 % subvention.
Thanks to the State government’s recent scheme of waiver of agricultural loans, those who have not been benefitted by this move may have defaulted in their payments, rendering them ineligible to get fresh loans.

Supreme court says asks centre and states to explain farmers death

The Supreme Court asked the Centre and the States to explain whether there was a lifeline, including a comprehensive insurance plan, for farmers to end the vicious circle plaguing the agriculture sector.
It was alarmed that crop failure and natural calamities were driving debt-ridden farmers across the country to take their lives.
Bench led by Chief Justice of India J.S. Khehar included all the States, the Centre and the Reserve Bank of India in the litigation in an effort to get a holistic picture of the plight of farmers.
Terming the death of farmers due to crop losses a “human rights issue,” the Bench asked why the government had not yet formulated a national policy to protect the lives of the country's bread-winners.
The petition also sought financial relief from the government for farmers facing drought.
It pleaded for a humane agricultural policy, taking into consideration the probable loss of crops, to help farmers tide over a drought-like situation.

Nalanda University gets new Chancellor

Dr. Vijay Bhatkar, the man behind India’s first supercomputer, the Param series, is to be the new Chancellor of Nalanda University.
He will replace George Yeo, former Foreign Minister of Singapore, who quit after the Board of the University was reconstituted, saying he had not been consulted before it took place.
Dr. Bhatkar said his main vision for his new appointment would be “to bring forward the universalisation of the mind, that universities are for.
Dr. Bhatkar studied at the Indian Institute of Technology (Delhi) and the Maharaja Sayaji Rao University.
He received the Padma Bhushan in 2015 in the field of science and technology.

:: International ::

US determined to implement protectionist policies

As President Donald Trump appears determined to implement his protectionist campaign promises, the U.S. could be headed for a trade war with partners.
The White House said that a 20% tariff on imports from southern neighbour Mexico is among the ideas under consideration to fund a border wall between the two countries.
Mr. Trump crossed swords with his Mexican counterpart on Twitter, in a first. Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto announced the cancellation of his first meeting with Mr. Trump, which was scheduled for next week, on Twitter.
The wall and the tariff proposal have outraged Mexico, many U.S. leaders, including Republicans, but Mr. Trump is unfazed. The order was issued without any calculation of costs or timeline.
The U.S.-Mexico border is 3,200 km long and nearly one-third of it has barriers of some sort. Mr. Trump has repeatedly said he would force Mexico to pay for the wall. Mexico has rejected the idea.
After questions were raised, the White House initially said a 20% tariff on Mexican imports to the U.S. would fund the wall. It later clarified that a tariff was one of the several proposals on the table.
Imports to the U.S. from Mexico in 2015 were valued at $316.4 billion.

:: Science and Technology ::

Human organs can be grown in pigs after some time

For the first time, biologists have succeeded in growing human stem cells in pig embryos, shifting from science fiction to the realm of the possible the idea of developing human organs in animals for later transplant.
The approach involves generating stem cells from a patient’s skin, growing the desired new organ in a large animal like a pig, and then harvesting it for transplant into the patient’s body.
The human-organ-growing pigs would be examples of chimeras, animals composed of two different genomes.
They would be generated by implanting human stem cells into an early pig embryo, resulting in an animal composed of mixed pig and human cells.
The Salk team’s report was published in Cell and the Stanford-Tokyo team’s in Nature. The two reports together establish the feasibility of trying to grow replacement human organs in animals, though such a goal is still far off.
Many technical and ethical barriers have yet to be overcome, but the research is advancing alongside the acute need for organs; some 76,000 people in the U.S. alone are awaiting transplants.
Mr. Belmonte’s and Mr. Nakauchi’s teams have both pursued a strategy of directing the human donor cells to generate specific organs in the recipient species. This is desirable for both technical and ethical reasons.
The result provides proof of principle that Type 1 diabetes can be treated by growing a pancreas from an individual’s cells in another animal, Mr. Nakauchi and colleagues conclude.

Indian Navy has launched a global hunt for a multi-role fighter aircraft

After declaring the naval version of the indigenous Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) Tejas unfit for operating from aircraft carriers in its “present form,” the Indian Navy has launched a global hunt for a carrier-based multi-role fighter aircraft.
Last month, Navy Chief Admiral Sunil Lanba said the “present LCA does not meet the carrier capability required by the Navy.”
He said the service would continue to support its development but “at the same time we will seek aircraft elsewhere which can operate on the aircraft carrier.
The Navy currently operates Russian Mig-29K twin engine fighters from the aircraft carrier INS Vikramaditya.
These will also fly from the first Indigenous Aircraft Carrier (IAC) Vikrant once it enters service. The Navy has procured 45 Mig-29Ks in two batches.
The RFI says the aircraft are “intended as day-and-night capable, all-weather, multi-role, deck-based combat aircraft which can be used for air defence, air-to-surface operations.
The IAC-II which is currently at the design stage can handle twin engine, heavy aircraft, greatly extending the area of operations.
This narrows down the selection to two aircraft now available in the global market — Boeing’s F-18 Super Hornet and Dassault Rafale, 36 of which the Indian Air Force has contracted.
The F-35 fifth generation aircraft of the U.S. is also an option.

:: Business and Economy ::

General Anti Avoidance Rules will come to force on April 1

The Centre has reiterated that the General Anti Avoidance Rules – aimed at curbing tax avoidance – will come into force on April 1.
The government’s resolve to stick to the rollout date for the GAAR regime announced in the 2016 Budget was reflected in clarifications issued by the Finance Ministry.
Finance Ministry made clear its rules regarding several issues that the industry had demanded greater clarity on, including the specific cases in which GAAR would apply to FPI, the treatment of Limitation of Benefits (LOB) clauses and.
Most new treaties being signed are with the LOB clause. Therefore, foreign investors have clarity now. Another positive thing is that court-approved arrangements are outside the purview of GAAR.
The official clarification also said that, if at the time of sanctioning an arrangement, the court had explicitly and adequately considered the tax implications, then GAAR would not apply to such an arrangement.
It has also been clarified that GAAR would not apply if an arrangement was permitted by the Authority for Advance Rulings.

WTO pact set to lift world trade by $1 trillion

A trade accord that will boost global exports by $1 trillion should come into force within two weeks, the head of the World Trade Organization said, just as the rhetoric of U.S. President Donald Trump clouds the outlook for global trade.
The Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA) will have a major impact on poorer countries, because it standardises and simplifies customs procedures, slashing the time, cost and complexity of taking goods over borders.
There are estimates that once fully implemented, this could have an impact of around 2.7 percentage points on trade expansion throughout the world every year until say 2030, and 0-5% of GDP growth around the world.”
The United States, European Union, China and Japan were among the early adopters, although big and rich countries have less to gain since their customs procedures are already at high levels.
Mr. Azevedo said it was too early to tell whether the new U.S. admini would be on board with those reforms, adding that much of what was being said about Mr. Trump’s plans for trade was speculation inferred from his previous comments.

More than 111 crore people now have an Aadhaar number

More than 111 crore people now have an Aadhaar number, covering more that 99% of the Indian adult population, the government said.
Enrolment for Aadhar has increased to 7-8 lakh per day post demonetisation, against 5-6 lakh till October.
There has also been an increase in use of Aadhaar-enabled payments systems from 2.57 crore transactions in October 2016, to 2.69 crore in November, to 3.73 crore in December and to 2.06 crore transactions in the first 15 days of January.
“It is becoming a powerful instrument to bridge the digital divide… As on date, Aadhaar’s total saturation percentage is 91.7%, while over 99 % adult population above age of 18 have been assigned Aadhaar number.”
He added that 22 states and UTs have more that 90% Aadhaar saturation.
The Aadhaar-Enabled Payment System (AEPS) is now connected with 119 banks across the country and more than 33.87 crore transactions have taken place using the platform, mainly in the rural areas.
About 4.47 crore bank accounts have been opened till date using Aadhaar eKYC as compared with one lakh accounts opened as of May 2014.

Exporters’ wish-list for Budget include an Export Development Fund

Exporters’ wish-list for the 2017-18 Union Budget include an Export Development Fund to help marketing of the products of small exporters in global markets, extension of the 3% interest subsidy to merchant exporters.
Federation of Indian Export Organisations (FIEO) said the government should create an Export Development Fund for such marketing particularly for small and medium exporters amounting to 0.5% of the previous year’s exports.
The present support through the marketing scheme was inadequate.
Stating merchant exporters contribute to more than 40% of India’s exports, FIEO said the 3% Interest Equalisation Scheme, available now to small and medium manufacturing units, must be extended to merchant exporters.

Key sectors of manufacturing showing a dip in job creation

About 77,000 jobs were created in July-September 2016, compared with the previous quarter, with the key sectors of manufacturing, construction and information technology showing a dip in job creation.
The survey showed that services sectors such as trade, transport, accommodation, education and health saw an overall increase in employment by 1.28 lakh.
The education sector saw the highest increase of 51,000, followed by health, trade and transport. However, in July-September last year, the IT-BPO sector saw a dip of 16,000 jobs compared with the previous quarter.
While the construction sector lost 23,000 jobs, analysts were surprised by a dip in manufacturing jobs by 12,000.
Economists said data for the Oct.-Dec. quarter could show a dip in job creation in the wake of the withdrawal of high-value currency notes.
According to the latest survey, about 83% of the 12,000 manufacturing jobs lost affected female workers. Also, most of the job losses in the sector were of casual and contract labour.
The previous survey, released in March 2016, had shown 1.35 lakh jobs were created in 2015 – the lowest in seven years.