Current Affairs for SSC CGL Exams - 06 June 2016

:: National ::

PM Modi signed seven agreements in Qatar

India and Qatar agreed to share intelligence to combat ‘hawala’ transactions and terror financing as the two countries signed seven agreements.
The two sides highlighted the need to “isolate” the sponsors and supporters of terrorism and agreed that urgent action against all such entities which support terrorism and use it as an instrument of policy, must be taken.
Two sides decided to constitute an inter-ministerial high-level joint committee to regularly review all bilateral matters, as well as regional and global issues of mutual interest.
An MoU was signed between the Finance Intelligence Unit-India (FIU) and Qatar Financial Information Unit to share intelligence on illegal movement of money, termed ‘hawala’
There is a lot of money flow and investment from Qatar. A number of black money investigations have taken Indian authorities to Qatar’s shores and the MoU is seen as a move to help combat money offences.
Under this pact, the two sides also agreed to exchange financial intelligence to combat terrorism financing and other economic offences.
They asserted that acts of violence and extremism cannot be justified, regardless of their motivation.

Civil services topper advices to read newspaper regularly

All India Civil Services topper Tina Dabi opines newspaper reading is a must for all the aspirants of all India services.
Ms. Tina said that there were no short-cuts to the examination.
A packed Hari Hara Kala Bhavan listened to her at the felicitation function for achieving the unique feat of first SC/ST candidate to secure first rank in first attempt in the Civil Services examination.
Deputy Chief Minister K. Srihari and former judge Chandraiah said Ms. Tina’s achievement once again proved that given an opportunity anyone can come up trumps.

Swati Mahadik wife of Col. Yashwant Mahadik starts army training

The death of Col. Santosh Yashwant Mahadik while battling militants in the forests of Kupwara in Kashmir instilled in his 32-year-old widow a single-minded determination to take forward his work by joining the Army.
Swati Mahadik is set to don the olive green uniform after clearing the gruelling Service Selection Board (SSB) examination.
She will undergo training at the Officers Training Academy in Chennai.
To realise her aim stated so plainly with such a powerful directness at her husband’s funeral, Ms. Mahadik displayed the rare quality of moral courage to sublimate her personal pain for an ideal her husband had passionately fought.
"Her daughter Kartiki is in Std. VI and she has been sent to a boarding school at Dehradun and son Swarajya is studying in a boarding school at Panchgani.

:: International ::

Kerry warned against provocative and destabilising act in South-China Sea

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry is on visit to Mangolia, sandwiched between undemocratic China and increasingly authoritarian Russia, the desire for deeper relations with US is mutual.
Mr. Kerry’s stop in this nation of 3 million people included heaps of praise for its unlikely democratic story.
But the top American diplomat also pushed for greater transparency in Mongolia, a sensitive issue given the foreign scramble for its rich resource deposits.
He also reached Beijing for annual U.S.-China strategic and economic talks.
Reports are suggesting China may establish an air defence zone in the contested South China Sea.
Mr. Kerry warned against what he said would be a “provocative and destabilising act”.
Such action would raise tension between China and its Asian neighbours, he said, and undermine China’s commitment to diplomatically resolve disputes over islands and maritime claims.
The matter is likely to be a major focus of discussions in the next days.

Coalition fighting in Yemen rejects UN report

The Saudi-led coalition fighting Shia rebels in Yemen rejected a UN report that placed it on an annual blacklist over the deaths of hundreds of children in air strikes.
The report, released on Thursday by the office of UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, said 785 children had been killed and 1,168 injured in Yemen last year, blaming the Saudi-led coalition for 60 per cent of the toll.

:: Business and Economy ::

New base year for IIP and WPI by year end

Government will come out with revised IIP and WPI indices by the end of this year with a new base year of 2011-12 in order to make them more representative of the changing economic scenario.
The present indices of IIP and WPI have base year of 2004-05.
As part of the revision, the basket of items and weightage assigned to different entries on the basis of which indices is computed will be updated, he said.
With the new series in place, both the Index of Industrial Production (IIP) and Wholesale Price Index (WPI) will become more comparable with the GDP numbers than it is currently, he said.
The National Statistical Commission has recommended to revise the base year of all economic indices every five years.
Government had last revised these indices in 2011 with the base year of 2004-05.
In addition to this, the Chief Statistician also informed that the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI) is working on bringing out an index for the services sector.

Study shows that India's black economy contracting

Pegging India’s ‘black economy’ at over Rs.30 lakh crore or about 20 per cent of total GDP, a new study said it has been contracting gradually over the years but still remains large.
Besides, a crackdown on black money has made the cost of capital costlier in the black economy with the lending rates having risen to as high as 34 per cent, from about 24 per cent a year ago, as per the study by Ambit Capital Research.
The study said that the crackdown has had some “unintended consequences” in form of an increase in preference for cash in its physical form and a notable decline in the usage of formal banking channels with record low deposit growth
It said the size of the India’s black economy expanded rapidly over the 1970s and 1980s, but since then had been contracting at a gradual pace and is now estimated at USD around 20 per cent of the country’s GDP.
The term ‘black economy’ typically refers to the economic activities outside formal banking channels and include cash transactions in high-value assets like gold and real estate.
A majority of black money is locked up in physical assets such as real estate and gold, it added.
Physical savings instruments have been historically preferred to financial savings instruments in India because purchase of physical assets can be funded using black money, while the purchase of financial assets can not be funded in such a manner due to a strong paper trail.
The report said that since the NDA government assumed power, there had been a clear step-up in checks around gold transactions and it has become increasingly difficult to park unaccounted cash in the form of jewellery or bullion.
Due to various measures taken by the government to tighten the noose around black money, there has been a clear drop in the prices of land and real estate and a decline in the appetite in gold, it said.
The crackdown has, however, resulted in an increase in the preference for cash in physical form and a notable decline in the usage of formal banking channels as evinced by the decline in bank deposits as well as usage of debit cards.

Institutional framework for better collection and analysis of services data

The Centre will soon establish an institutional framework for better collection and analysis of data on India’s services export and import.
The framework is likely to include setting up of a nodal agency for international trade data in services, creation of an international services trade business directory.
It will also include provisions mandating enterprises to report their international services trade to the proposed nodal agency, according to sources working on the proposed framework.
As a deterrent, there could be stringent penalties for misreporting and for failing to report.
To ensure legal certainty to the framework, there is a proposal to incorporate the above said provisions as amendments to the Collection of Statistics Act, 2008.
Besides, a few explicit additions on services export and import will be made to the questionnaires already being sent out regularly to enterprises by regulators of service sectors for collection of general data pertaining to these sectors.
The nodal agency on services trade data could be the Directorate General of Commercial Intelligence and Statistics (DGCI&S, which currently compiles and analyses only goods trade data) or an entirely new one.
The objective of having the framework is to improve targeting of incentives based on services exports, besides firm up a superior strategy for the country to be used in negotiations on bilateral free trade agreements as well as on regional and multilateral trade pacts.
The services sector accounts for over half of India’s GDP and its foreign investment inflows as well as more than a quarter of its total trade.
India has also found a place in the top ten World Trade Organisation-member countries in services exports and imports.
Despite services being such a crucial part of the country’s economy, there has so far been no institutional framework on services trade data collection and analysis.
The government has been relying on the Reserve Bank of India for services trade data.
India has had a positive trade balance in services sector, with exports being more than imports.
The commerce ministry had said the net export of services for FY’16 was $69.6 billion. It was lower than net export of services of $76.6 billion during FY’15.
Though India’s goods trade deficit in FY’16 was $118.46 billion, the country’s overall trade deficit (goods and services trade) came down to $48.86 billion thanks to the net export of services worth $69.6 billion.

:: Sports ::

Novak Djokovic completes career slam

Novak Djokovic lauded French Open final victory over Andy Murray as ‘the biggest moment’ of his career.
Murray suffered an eighth Major final defeat in 10 appearances, five of which have been inflicted by Djokovic, but the Briton was quick to lavish praise on his opponent.
In all, eight men have completed the career Grand Slam but even Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Andre Agassi, Roy Emerson and Fred Perry were unable to claim all four at the same time.