Current Affairs for SSC CGL Exams - 31 March 2017

:: National ::

Attack on African nationals in Greater Noida took a diplomatic turn

The attack on African nationals in Greater Noida took a diplomatic turn after Nigeria summoned the Indian envoy and demanded immediate action against the culprits.
The summon, a rare occurrence in India’s bilateral ties with any African nation, happened even as India gave an assurance that the perpetrators would be punished while the Rajya Sabha condemned the attacks.
Mr Enikanolaiye, the senior-most diplomat of Nigeria, demanded that the perpetrators be prosecuted so that future attackers are deterred from carrying out similar assaults.
India’s assured of tough action saying that the law of the land would take its course.
External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, speaking in the Rajya Sabha, said a probe had been ordered and “once this probe is over, action will be taken as per its findings.”
Official spokesperson Gopal Baglay stopped short of terming the attack as racist and said the motive behind the attack was being investigated.

Lok Sabha cleared the finance Bill after it rejected five amendments of Rajya sabha

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley invited suggestions from the Opposition for clean and transparent funding of political parties, as the Lok Sabha cleared the finance Bill after it rejected five amendments recommended by the Rajya Sabha.
Opposition MPs accused the government of riding roughshod over Parliament over what they termed some “draconian provisions” in the Bill.
The Rajya Sabha’s amendments pertained to deleting the provisions relating to powers given to taxmen to requisition books of account, power to survey and other such discretionary powers.
The Upper House had also approved that there should be a cap of 7.5% of net profit of the last three financial years for donation to political parties.
It had also approved an amendment asking for the disclosure of donor names to political parties. These amendments were rejected in the Lok Sabha.
Rajya Sabha had approved the deletion of Clause 51 of Section 132a of the Income Tax Act — which deals with powers to taxmen for requisition of books of accounts. It was a “direct assault on the right of individual.”
Bhartruhari Mahtab of the Biju Janata Dal sought to know since when was there a provision in the Income Tax Act, 1961, that the person whose House was being searched, or raided was disclosed the reason.
Mr. Mahtab also questioned whether political parties should run with funding from the corporate sector. “The floodgates would be opened for corporate funding for political purposes,” he said.

Predictions by astrologers and analysts on results cannot be published says EC

Predictions by astrologers, tarot readers and political analysts on results cannot be published or broadcast by the media, bypassing the Representation of the People Act provision.
Provision bars exit polls during the conduct of elections, according to an Election Commission advisory issued.
The EC observed that despite its notification prohibiting exit polls from February 4 till March 9 evening, some TV channels aired programmes projecting the number of seats likely to be won by political parties in the recently concluded Assembly elections.

:: International ::

Chinese President Xi Jinping will visit the U.S.

Chinese President Xi Jinping will visit the U.S. next week, the White House and the Chinese government announced.
“The President will host President Xi Jinping of China at Mar-a-Lago April 6-7, 2017,”press secretary Sean Spicer tweeted. Mar-a-Lago is a private club in Florida owned by the President.
The first meeting between the two leaders, coming after an election campaign in which Mr. Trump constantly targeted China for its alleged unfair trade practices, could set the tone for the new administration’s policy towards Asia.
The meeting takes place against the backdrop of heightened threat from North Korea. Mr. Trump believes China is not pulling its weight behind international efforts to rein in the autocratic regime.
Since assuming office in January, the Trump administration has sent conflicting signals on China.
On the other side, China has activated all its contacts in the U.S. to make bridges with the new administration. Since January, the Trump administration has sent conflicting signals with regard to China.
Mr. Trump was also forced to make a hasty retreat after trying to make Taiwan a bargaining point in U.S. ties with China.
The White House had reiterated the U.S.’s ‘One-China’ policy after Beijing made it clear that no engagement could begin until that is clarified.

:: India and World ::

India has offered its biggest yet line of credit to Bangladesh

India has offered a new line of credit for $5 billion, its biggest yet in the neighbourhood, to Bangladesh.
The announcement is expected during Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s visit to Delhi next week, her economic adviser, Mashiur Rahman.
Mr. Rahman said the credit would be open-ended and would follow the $1 billion offered in 2010, when Ms. Hasina previously visited Delhi, and the $2 billion in 2015 during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Dhaka.
The $5 billion is an open LoC; we can use it to enhance the level of trade, movement, connectivity.
The projects are yet to be fully identified, and there is no time line. We can spend it all at once, or as we need it. But where the Indian side has an interest is in connectivity: railway projects, road transportation, road maintenance.
The two sides are expected to announce a slew of agreements including one for the reconstruction of a seventh India-Bangladesh railway line between Agartala and Akhaura, a Rs. 1,000-crore project.
The 15-km line from Bangladesh to Tripura is significant as it is part of India’s larger strategy of assisting Bangladesh’s infrastructure while using it to transit to the “north-eastern” States.
The line is expected to shorten rail routes by as much as 1,000 km once completed.
Ferry services connecting Assam, Bangladesh and West Bengal and permissions for running cruise liners between the two countries, along with several road projects, are expected to be among more than 40 agreements to be announced.
While the plan under the Bangladesh-Bhutan-India-Nepal initiative has hit a roadblock over the Bhutanese Parliament’s refusal to ratify the network, officials are understood to be working around it, to link Bangladesh, India and Nepal.
“India is a friend and neighbour, while all other countries including China are development partners,” Information Minister Hassanul Haq Inu said.

:: Business and Economy ::

Beginning April, passengers may be able to fly on as many as 128 routes

Beginning April, passengers may be able to fly on as many as 128 routes connecting 70 big and small airports across the country by paying Rs. 2,500 for an hour’s flight.
The Centre announced a list of routes awarded to five airlines which will operate flights under its regional connectivity scheme, named UDAN ( Ude Desh ka Aam Naagrik ).
Low-cost airline SpiceJet, Air India subsidiary Alliance Air along with regional airlines Turbo Megha Airways, Air Deccan and Air Odisha Aviation won the rights to operate flights under the regional connectivity scheme under which half of the seats on the plane will be capped at Rs. 2,500 per hour’s flight.
Some of the inactive airports that will soon witness regional flights include Shimla, Agra, Bikaner, Gwalior, Kadapa, Rourkela, Jharsuguda, Vidyanagar, Burnpur, Diu, Shillong, Kullu, Mysore, Jagdalpur, Salem, Utkela, and Hosur.
The regional airlines will connect these destinations with their nearest bigger airports such as Delhi, Bengaluru, Chennai, Bhubaneswar, Mumbai, Ahmedabad, and Jaipur, among others.
As per the scheme, the Centre will subsidise the losses incurred by airlines flying out of dormant airports to help airlines charge Rs. 2,500 for an hour’s flight to passengers.
80% of the subsidy will be collected by charging a levy of up to Rs. 8,500 on each departing flight of domestic airlines and the rest 20% will come from the respective State governments.
The Centre had asked airlines to submit their proposed routes along with subsidy amount required to operate the regional flight. This was followed by counter-bids from other airlines and the one asking for the least financial support won the bid.
Government will provide subsidy to airlines for first three years of operations when they will have exclusive flying rights on the selected routes.
Airlines which had won the first round of bidding under the scheme would require a subsidy of Rs. 205 crore for running their operations. This would ultimately lead to the creation of 13 lakh seats in the regional aviation market.

Consumer interest is imp. in policy and not revenue maximization says TRAI

Telecom Regulatory Authority of India has said that consumer interest should be at the centre of public policy and not revenue maximization for the government.
It added that the commission concluded that such a regime needs revisiting solely base on the revenue numbers of a few recent quarters.
The Telecom Commission, which is the highest decision making body in the Department of Telecommunications, had in February written to TRAI asking it to review existing tariff rules to ensure financial growth of the sector.
The commission had reasoned that promotional offers by a new player is leading into fall in revenues of other telcos, and hence resulting in fall in government’s earning.
The regulator, in the letter, argued that it is a well known fact that low tariff help in penetration of telecom services in the rural and remote areas of the country where the teledensity still stands at 53.27% as compared to urban teledensity of 170.15%.
It further stated that affordable telecom service and consumer interest are some of the key elements of National Telecom Policy, 2012.

Paper meals coupon provided by employers to go digital

As part of Centre’s push towards digital payments and transactions, the paper meals coupon provided by employers as perquisites to their staff will become digital from January next year.
RBI has issued Master Directions on the issuance and operation of prepaid payment instruments (PPI) in the country to provide a framework for regulation, authorisation and supervision of entities operating payment systems in the country.
Master Directions consolidate instructions on rules and regulations framed by the RBI under various Acts including banking issues and foreign exchange transactions.
According to the new Master Directions, all paper meal vouchers like the Sodexo and Ticket Restaurant will have to be issued in electronic form like cards which are reloadable.
The proposed directions also suggest that the prepaid meal instruments in paper voucher form shall not be accepted beyond December 31, 2017.
Apart from the deadline of December 31, the RBI also said the PPI issuers should obtain and maintain the details of employees from the employers and the minimum validity of the prepaid meal instruments shall be one year from loading.
Sodexo, which is one of the largest paper meal voucher providers in the country, said it was in line with the government’s move to power digital payment.
Sodexo is the largest player in the paper meal space with over 11,000 clients that includes about 25 lakh daily users.
The company has even partnered with payment technology solutions company like First Data and Pine Labs to create a propriety payment terminal that will accept Sodexo meal cards.