Current Affairs for SSC CGL Exams - 30 August 2016

:: National ::

Situations slowly eases in Kashmir valley

With an all-party delegation headed by Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh set to visit Kashmir Valley on September 4, lifting of curfew and security restrictions eased life for locals for the first time in 51 days.
Police said the curbs were withdrawn in the wake of “improvement in the situation.” Of 10 districts in the Valley, only Pampore town in south Kashmir and two police station areas in Srinagar city continued to remain under curfew.
Private vehicles plied in the commercial hub of Lal Chowk, where many government offices and banks resumed functioning.
However, shops, petrol pumps, business establishments and educational institutes remained closed in response to the separatists’ shutdown call till September 1.
Mr. Singh will head an all-party delegation to J&K for a dialogue with stakeholders to restore normality in the Valley, where the killing of militant commander Burhan Wani on July 8 sparked a cycle of violence.
Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti said Prime Minister Narendra Modi had the mandate “to take bold decisions on the lines of Vajpayeeji”.
“A credible mechanism for dialogue, reconciliation and resolution needs to be put in place. It should not be half-hearted efforts made in similar situations after the 2008 and 2010 unrests,” she added.

West Bengal Legislative Assembly passed a resolution changing the name of the State

The West Bengal Legislative Assembly on Monday passed a resolution changing the name of the State to Bengal in English and Bangla in Bengali.
Despite the Trinamool Congress government’s strong efforts to forge a consensus on the name change resolution, the Congress, the Left Front and the BJP did not support the resolution.
Consent of the Parliament is necessary to effect the name change. After a vociferous debate, the resolution, under Rule 169 of the rules of procedures of the House, was passed by a voice vote.

Centre moves on vote totaliser machines

The Union government is working overtime to take a final decision on the issue of introducing “totaliser machines” for mixing of votes from various booth for counting, as recommended by the Election Commission.
The Supreme Court, while hearing a writ petition on August 5, had given the government eight weeks’ time to take a final decision.
A team of Union Ministers has been constituted on the direction of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to deliberate on the Election Commission’s proposal in November 2008, which was seconded by the Law Commission.

Expert committee on use of pellet guns has submitted its report to the Home Ministry

An expert committee on use of pellet guns, which submitted its report to the Home Ministry on Monday, has recommended that metal pellets be replaced with polymer, rubber and paper bullets.
As the committee was not in favour of completely phasing out the use of pellet guns in the Kashmir valley, their use will be regulated.
The seven-member expert committee, headed by T.V.S.N Prasad, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), constituted on July 26 to look into the alternatives to pellet guns, submitted its report.
“There will be no blanket ban on the use of pellet guns. At the most, it will be used in rarest of rare cases. We cannot make our security forces a sitting duck,”.
The other alternative that the committee has suggested is the use of chilli grenade shells.
The committee also explored the use of acoustics but it was not found fit to be used in the Kashmir context as they have not been found to be a viable option wherever used.
The Ordnance Factory Board, which manufactures the pump action guns, has been asked to produce the other types of pellets as well.
The committee also explored the use of Vehicle Mounted Active Denial System developed by the U.S. military but rejected the option as it works on millimetre wave technology, which immobilises the body and its health implications are not known yet.
The Border Security Force has already been asked to supply chilli grenades, capsicin-laced tear gas smoke shells to the Kashmir valley for effective crowd control.

:: International ::

Boost to India’s diplomatic outreach for the Bay of Bengal economic zone

In a boost to India’s diplomatic outreach for the Bay of Bengal economic zone, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina of Bangladesh will participate in the October 15-16 BRICS-BIMSTEC event.
Sri Lankan diplomats indicated that President Maithripala Sirisena will also attend the event, which has received a confirmation from Myanmar State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi.

:: Business and Economy ::

Reserve Bank of India Governor says economic growth showing signs of picking up

Reserve Bank of India Governor Raghuram Rajan observed that economic growth while showing signs of picking up was still below the level the country was capable of.
On inflation, however, the outgoing central bank governor said projections were still at the upper limit of the RBI’s inflation objective, constraining space for a reduction in interest rates.
“The key weakness is in investment, with private corporate investment subdued because of low capacity utilisation, and public investment slow in rolling out in some sectors.”
The governor hoped that monsoon rains, which have been normal so far this year, coupled with implementation of the recommendations of the Seventh Pay Commission, would boost consumer demand.
In the annual report, the central bank said the near term domestic outlook appears ‘somewhat’ brighter than the outcome for 2015-16.
It said while a durable pick-up in investment activity remains elusive, consumption will continue to be the main support to aggregate demand.
Mr. Rajan, however, sounded cautious on inflation. Inflation projections were still at the upper limit of the RBI’s objective and room for a rate cut would emerge as inflation slowed.
He reiterated that the short-term macroeconomic priorities of RBI continue to be to focus on bringing down inflation towards the government-set target of 4 per cent.
Mr. Rajan also observed that the willingness of banks to cut lending rates was muted and there was a reluctance to lend to industry and small businesses among the more stressed public sector banks compared with the private sector banks.
RBI reiterated that it would continue to monitor banks’ asset quality issues in 2016-17. Banks have suffered heavy losses in recent times after the banking regulator forced them to classify many accounts as non-performing.

:: Sports ::

President honoured athletes

President Pranab Mukherjee honoured the medallists from Rio — P.V. Sindhu and Sakshi Malik — apart from Olympic finalists, Dipa Karmakar and Jitu Rai, with the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna award.
While Sindhu and Sakshi with their medals were assured of the award, Dipa’s good work — she finished fifth in the World Championship and fourth in the Olympics, an unprecedented achievement for an Indian gymnast.
Even if there had been no Olympics, shooter Jitu Rai would have walked away with the award as he had won everything in the last three years, including the World Championship silver and the Asian Games gold.
The Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna award, given for the first time to four at a time, carries with it a cash prize of Rs.7.5 lakh each.
Lalita Babar, who made the final in the women’s 3000m steeplechase, boxer Shiva Thapa, hockey players Rani Rampal and V.R. Raghunath, shooters Gurpreet Singh and Apurvi Chandela, table tennis player Soumyyajit Ghosh and wrestler Vinesh Phogat were the other Olympians, to get the Arjuna Award.
The Dronacharya Award was presented to Raj Kumar Sharma, the coach of Virat Kohli, Nagapuri Ramesh, athlete Dutee Chand’s coach, Bishweshwar Nandi (Dipa’s coach), and Sagar Mal Dhayal in boxing.
Swimming coach S. Pradeep Kumar and wrestling coach Mahabir Singh were chosen in the ‘lifetime achievement’ category.
The Dhyan Chand Award was presented to S. Geetha in athletics, Sylvanus Dung Dung in hockey and Rajendra Prahlad Shelke in rowing. All the awards carry a cash prize of Rs. 5 lakh.

Good news for yogeshwar dutt

Even though India’s wrestlers had a controversial, forgettable outing at the Rio Olympics, there is good news on the Yogeshwar Dutt front.
With Russia’s Besik Kudukhov being found guilty of using banned substances, he has been stripped of his silver medal at the 2012 Games, clearing the way for Yogeshwar’s bronze medal to now be upgraded to silver.
The Russian, who beat Yogeshwar and went on to finish runner-up, died in an accident in 2013. He was a four-time world champion and had won a bronze medal at the 2008 Olympics.
The Wrestling Federation of India admitted to having been informed about the decision but was waiting for a written confirmation from the International Olympic Committee before making an official statement.
With this, Yogeshwar will join Sushil Kumar as the second Indian wrestler, and only the fifth Indian ever, to win an individual silver medal at the Olympics.