Current Affairs for SSC CGL Exams - 30 March 2016

:: National ::

Uttarakhand HC allows floor test of Harish Rawat government

Granting the former Uttarakhand Chief Minister, Harish Rawat, a chance to prove his majority in the Assembly, the Uttarakhand High Court ruled that fresh voting must take place on March 31.
The court ruled that all 70 MLAs, including the nine rebels who were suspended on Sunday by the Speaker, must vote, and the floor test shall decide whether Mr. Rawat would be reinstated.
However, the rebels would vote separately under the supervision of an observer appointed by the court.
On March 18, the BJP, the Opposition party, along with nine Congress MLAs, voted against the Appropriation Bill in the House.
While Mr. Rawat said the Bill was “constitutionally” passed, the BJP’s central leadership accused Speaker Govind Singh Kunjwal of showing the Bill as “passed” when a majority of the 67 MLAs present had voted against it.
Thereafter, Governor K.K. Paul asked Mr. Rawat to prove his majority on March 28. But President’s Rule was imposed on the State on March 27.

FDI through automatic route allowed in e-commerce

The government allowed 100 per cent foreign direct investment (FDI) through the automatic route in the marketplace model of e-commerce retailing.
This brought in long overdue clarity on FDI policy for the sector as well as definition of marketplace format.
As per the guidelines issued by the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) on FDI in e-commerce, foreign direct investment has not been permitted in inventory-based model.
At present, 100 per cent FDI is permitted in B2B (business-to-business) transactions under the automatic route.
The marketplace model has been defined as providing an “information technology platform by an e-commerce entity on a digital and electronic network to act as a facilitator between buyer and seller.”
DIPP said that the e-commerce marketplace may provide support services to sellers in warehousing, and logistics., order fulfilment, call centre, payment collection and other services.
However, such entities will not exercise ownership over the inventory.

Second Batch of Netaji files released

The second batch of Netaji files reveal that Suresh Chandra Bose, brother of Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose, had, without permission, published secret government documents in his book “ Dissentient Report ”, violating the Official Secrets Act.
The government discussed if some action should be taken, but then decided to let the matter rest.
Among the Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose files is a speech delivered by Japanese Prime Minister Hideki Tojo during World War II, saying Japan supported Indian independence and would hand over to the “Provisional Government of Free India”, headed by Bose, the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, then under Japanese occupation, “soon”.

:: International ::

Sri Lanka will build 65000 houses in civil war hit areas

The Sri Lanka government has decided to go ahead with the plan to build 65,000 houses in the civil war-hit Northern and Eastern Provinces.
At present, the process of receiving feedback on the project was under way. Two model houses had been set up in Jaffna.
This year, 11,000 houses had been planned with 18,000 houses annually for the next three years.
The executing agency of the project, ArcelorMittal Construction, France, would open an office in Jaffna to address the issues.
The guarantee period of the houses would be 30 years and each house would have lifetime of 60 years to 70 years.

FTA talks to be resumed in Brussels

India and EU will seek to resume talks on the proposed free trade agreement at the Brussels Summit.
Talks on the Broadbased Trade and Investment Agreement (BTIA) have become a real casualty of the ongoing diplomatic tensions between the two sides.
The friction has been caused by various incidents, including India’s arrest in 2012 of Italian marines Massimiliano Latorre and Salvatore Girone, charged with killing two fisherman off the coast of Kerala.
The EU is India’s largest trading partner, with bilateral trade amounting to $126 billion. It is also the largest export destination for India, and a source of $69 billion in FDI.
Coincidentally, oral arguments in the Marines case are being heard at the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague.
In addition to the BTIA, the leaders are expected to endorse an EU-India Agenda for Action 2020, which will set strategic priorities for the next five years.
There will also be a declaration on clean energy and climate. A Common Agenda on Migration and Mobility (CAMM), addressing regular and irregular migration as well as trafficking, and a joint declaration on terrorism are expected to be adopted.
The counter-terrorism declaration was already on the cards prior to the March 22 terror attack in Brussels, but has come into sharp focus since then.

:: Science and Technology ::

Defence Minister inaugurated first indigenous bow mounted sonar dome

Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar flagged off the first indigenous bow-mounted sonar dome for naval warships at Defexpo.
It was designed by engineers at a DRDO laboratory based in Pune and manufactured by Kineco Ltd., a Goan company.
Only a couple of companies in the world have the capability to make such a structurally demanding structure in composites.
The sonar functions as the ship’s underwater eyes and ears.
The dome is a structure fitted over the sonar array so that its electronics and sensors are not exposed to surrounding hostile environment.
The sonar dome has to be structurally sound as well as acoustically transparent.
Kineco has a joint venture with Kaman Aerospace group of the U.S., which has also become a significant player in the field of aerospace composites.

NASA plans for new probe in Mars in 2018

National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is looking at putting people on planet Mars by 2030 even as plans are afoot to put the next ‘lander’ on the red planet in 2018.
NASA seeks to know the interior of the plant, penetrate the ground for up to 10 metres or more. Do a follow-up on the next rover in 2020 and check the samples on the surface
In the city en route to the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) headquarters in Bangalore, Mr. James gave an exciting insight into the research at NASA and the collaborative efforts going on with India and Israel on the planetary missions to Mars.
The heightened interest about Mars is because “it has more to offer, it is closer, more earth-like than the moon, has atmosphere to make oxygen and lots of potential.
Propulsion systems, spacecraft, radars, satellite components, payload developments, et al are being jointly taken up with the help of firms in Spain, Israel and India.
While NASA was technological leader, ISRO too has great technical expertise with its radar systems, launch vehicles of PSLV/GSLV and so on. Apart from research collaboration, there has been an exchange of scholars between both the institutions of JPL and Indian Institute of Space Technology (IIST).
The US space institute has also been doing lot of research in earth sciences by having an orbiting lab from space to look into the Earth’s atmosphere, soil moisture, study the water cycles, glacial movements and so on.
Imagine a planetary body with water holding capacity of three times the size of Earth.
NASA will be keenly studying the “Icy moons” of Jupiter and Saturn and will be the forthcoming planetary missions after the next ‘lander’ is put on Mars.
The mission towards moons like Titan or the largest moon of Saturn and will look for the icy water as was shown by unmanned spacecraft Galileo and the Hubble telescope in search for habitable world other than earth.
The next generation James Webb space telescope as well as new propulsion systems will help reach Jupiter and Saturn within a year and also study the ‘exoplanets’ – planets orbiting around stars other than the Sun.

:: Business and Economy ::

Government changed the policy related to inoperative provident funds

The government has scrapped a decision taken by the previous United Progressive Alliance government to suspend interest credits on inoperative Employees’ Provident Fund (EPF) accounts, in the absence of any fresh contributions in these accounts for three years.
Interest income was not credited to such accounts since April 1, 2011.
At present, 9.23 crore out of total 15 crore EPF accounts are inoperative with around Rs.44,000 crore deposits in them.
The government has not taken a decision on crediting interest on these inoperative accounts between April 2011 and April 2016.
The decision could also scuttle the finance ministry's attempts to use the funds in such dormant accounts for creating a new Senior Citizens Welfare Fund as announced by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley in Union Budget 2015-16.
Under the new rules, EPF accounts will also continue to get interest credits for three years after members reach the age of 58 years.
This provision will ensure that EPF members, who choose not to withdraw their deposits immediately at retirement, would continue to earn interest till the age of 61.
A similar provision exists under the General Provident Fund (GPF) for government employees allowing them to earn interest for 12 months after they retire at the age of 60.
Accounts will become inoperative only in cases where employees settle abroad permanently and fail to withdraw their account balance within 36 months.
Similarly, in the case of an EPF member’s death, the interest on their savings will be credited for a period of three years after his or her death.

Vodafone moves ICJ against India

British telecom giant Vodafone is believed to have moved the Hague-based International Court of Justice (ICJ) seeking appointment of a judge to preside over an arbitration over its Rs.14,200-crore tax case.
Vodafone this month moved ICJ after arbitrators appointed by it and the government of India failed to reach a consensus on selection of a neutral/presiding judge of the three-member panel.
Vodafone in 2013 had invoked India-Netherlands bilateral investment treaty seeking resolution to the tax demand imposed on it by enacting a tax law with retrospective effect to sidestep a Supreme Court judgement that went in the company’s favour.
The government had in June 2014 appointed former Chief Justice of India R.C. Lahoti as arbitrator while Vodafone named Canadian trial lawyer Yves Fortier as its choice.
The two had zeroed in on Abdulqawi Ahmed Yusuf of the ICJ as the presiding arbitrator.
Lahoti recused himself from the case in May 2015 and a month later Yusuf too declined to be part of the panel.
Thereafter, India in July last year named Costa Rica based lawyer Rodrigo Oreamuno to arbitrate on its behalf.
But Oreamuno and Fortier have not been able to decide on a presiding arbitrator forcing Vodafone to move ICJ.
The government had initially slapped a tax demand of Rs.7,990 crore on Vodafone for failing to deduct tax on capital gains made over its $11-billion acquisition of 67 per cent stake in the mobile phone business owned by Hutchison Whampoa in 2007.
Last month the IT department sent a reminder notice to Vodafone seeking Rs.14,200 crore in tax and interest.
Cairn Energy of UK, which faces a total tax liability of over Rs 29,000 crore owing to the same retrospective legislation, had resorted to ICJ to force the government to join the arbitration.

U.S security agencies breached the encryption of an iPhone used by a terrorists

U.S security agencies breached the encryption of an iPhone used by a terrorist involved in the December 2, 2015 San Bernardino shooting, bringing a legal tussle between the government and the technology giant Apple to a close but prompting more questions related to privacy, surveillance and security.
The U.S. government and Apple were in a court battle after the company challenged a judicial order to assist the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) to access the data stored in an iPhone 5 C used by Syed Farook, who, with his wife Tashfeen Malik shot 14 people dead.
Apple CEO Tim Cook had termed the February court order “dangerous,” and the government demand “chilling,” and had vowed to fight it as it threatened the “security of our customers.”
The U.S Department of Justice told a California court on Monday that it “no longer required the assistance from Apple Inc.” as the FBI could access the phone with assistance from a third party.
Mr. Cook had said the government move would not be restricted to one phone, and companies would be forced to make digital master keys that would be used for mass surveillance by security agencies.
Apple took a risk by refusing to cooperate with the FBI. It reassured it global customers, but in the end it seems to have backfired a bit, because it turns out that its encryption is not as unbreakable as thought.
But the larger questions regarding an individual’s right to privacy and the requirements of law enforcement will continue.