Current Affairs for SSC CGL Exams - 01 October 2016

:: National ::

Supreme Court cancels Shahabuddin’s bail

Finely balancing societal interest with concerns about individual liberty, the Supreme Court ordered former RJD MP Mohd Shahabud-din to be sent back to prison 20 days after he came out on bail.
The Supreme Court however ordered the Bihar government and the trial court to complete the trial as early as possible. In a “judicious” decision taken after pouring through evidence, a Bench of Justice P.C. Ghose and Amitava Roy said Shahabuddin should be “forthwith” taken back into custody.
The Supreme Court observed that the High Court erred in granting Shahabuddin bail as a “matter of course” without taking into consideration “the overall facts”.
It noted that several cases against him are pending in various stages of trial and appeal in various courts of Bihar and in the Patna High Court.
The Bench made it clear that it has taken serious notice of Shahabuddin's repeated contention that there was a “conscious delay” in the conduct of his trial by directing that “all steps as contemplated in law to dispose of the case, as early as possible”.
The order quashing the High Court decision to free Shahabuddin came despite the Bench flaying the lacklustre performance of the Bihar government on the prosecution side.
The Bench had castigated the State for its 17-month delay in conducting the trial and the almost zero interest it showed to pre-vent Shahabuddin's bail.

Bihar’s liquor law amendment’s are ultra virus says HC

The Patna High Court set aside the amended Bihar Prohibition and Excise Bill, 2016, which had banned the sale and consumption of liquor in the State.
A division bench of the court, comprising Chief Justice Iqbal Ahmed Ansari and Justice Navaniti Prasad Singh, quashed the April 5 notification of the government.
It said, “Section 19(4) of the Bihar Excise Act 1915 as amended with effect from 01.04.2016, (passed by the legislature on 31.03.2016) is ultra vires the Constitution and unenforceable.”
The Bench, in its 142-page order, went on to say, “The impugned notification, issued by the State under Section 19(4) of the said amended Act is also ultravires the Constitution, and, consequently unenforceable.”

High alert sounded at many places across the country

Security has been strengthened at vital installations across Punjab and a high alert has been sounded at all airbases across the State, even as evacuation of people residing in villages along the Inter-national Border continued.
High alert has been sounded on all airbases of the region, including at Chandigarh, Ambala, Bathinda, Adampur and Halwara near Ludhiana.
Border Security Force (BSF) has put the Inter-national Border on further alert after the surgical strikes.
Security has also been strengthened in and around other vital installations, including oil refinery and important power plants in Punjab.Punjab shares 553-km border with Pakistan.
It has six districts which lie close to the International Border. Meanwhile, evacuation of people residing in about 1,000 villages within 10 km of the International Border continued following orders of the authorities.
Heads of local gurdwaras and temples, sarpanches and the police reached out to people using loudspeakers, asking them to start evacuation at the earliest in the light of escalating situation between the two countries.
The SGPC, the apex religious body of the Sikhs, has announced every possible help to the evacuees.

PM Modi said re-use and recycling of waste should be technology driven

Prime Minister Narendra Modi said re-use and recycling of waste should be technology driven and insisted that there should a focus on the concept of “waste to wealth” so that revenue models could be developed around cleanliness.
“Re-use and recycling have been our habits for a long time...these need to be made more technology-driven so that we can create wealth from waste,” Mr. Modi said during his in-augural address at the India Sanitation Conference here.
Mr. Modi said garbage can be used as a means to create employment and wealth by recycling and then, cleanliness will be-come a by-product.
“While no one likes dirtor dirty surroundings, the habit of cleanliness takes some effort to develop.
Let's join hands and start a ‘Swachhagraha' — an initiative for cleanliness to get the country dirt-free on the lines of Mahatma Gandhi's ‘Satyagraha' that freed us from British rule,” said Mr. Modi.

:: International ::

US Presidential candidate Clinton concerned over Nuclear weapon in Pak

U.S. Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton has expressed concern over the possibility of Pakistan’s nuclear weapons falling into the hands of jihadists, which she said was “a threatening scenario,” according to a media report.
“Pakistan is running full speed to develop tactical nukes in their continuing hostility with India,” the former Secretary of State told a close door fundraiser in Virginia in February, The New York Times reported.
Such remarks from the former secretary of state gains significance in view of an interview of Pakistani Defence Minister Khwaja Muhammad Asif to the local TV channel in which he threatened to unleash nukes against India.

European Union ratifies Climate deal

European Union ministers approved the ratification of the Paris Agreement at a historic meeting of the Environment Council in Brussels. This decision brings the Paris Agreement closer to entering into force.
The 28 EU member nations together account for close to 12 per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions.
Their addition will take the cumulative emissions of ratifying parties well beyond the 55 per cent minimum required for the treaty to enter into force.
The Paris treaty had already crossed the first condition of 55 countries ratifying the treaty to enable its entry into force on September 21 at the UN Secretary-General’s special ratification ceremony organised at the UN headquarters.
Thirty one countries submitted their ratification instruments during that ceremony.
As of now, 61 countries, accounting for almost 48 per cent of global emissions have ratified the deal. India, which accounts for 4.1 per cent of global emissions, has agreed to ratify the deal on October 2.
Together with the EU, the total global emissions covered by ratifying parties will make the treaty ready to enter into force, 30 days after all the agreed parties submit their ratification instruments.

:: India and World ::

SAARC summit in Pakistan postponed after withdrawal from various countries

Blaming India for derailing the SAARC Summit, Pakistan announced that the summit in Islamabad will now be held on an alternative date, even as Sri Lanka joined others in opposing the summit under the “prevailing environment”.
Nepal subsequently issued an official statement seeking an indefinite postponement of the summit.
Sri Lanka joined India, Afghanistan, Bhutan and Bangladesh in demanding the summit should not be held.
Sri Lankan Foreign Ministry said in a statement, adding, “Sri Lanka condemns terrorism in all its forms and manifestations, and stresses in this regard the need to deal with the issue of terrorism in a decisive manner”.
Addressing the media in Delhi, Afghan envoy Shaida M. Abdali demanded that SAARC should focus on counter-terror initiatives.
Meanwhile, Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Vikas Swarup tweeted, ‘We note Pakistan’s decision 2 postpone SAARC Summit. They’ve been compelled 2 recognise the regional sentiment against terrorism.’

:: Business and Economy ::

India considering about developing airport at Chabahar

India may examine a proposal from Iran to develop the airport at its strategic Chabahar port as part of comprehensive infrastructure development that includes rail-road connectivity to the port.
The Chabahar port in the Sistan-Balochistan province on the energy-rich nation’s southern coast lies outside the Persian Gulf and is easily accessed from India’s western coast bypassing Pakistan.
Apart from discussions on expanding scope of cooperation to cover development of the entire Chabahar port, it was discussed that air transport could be of much significance.
Chabahar has an operational airport and the Iranian minister enquired whether India would be willing to modernise it.
Chabahar project will open a new gateway for development of India, Iran and Afghanistan by boosting connectivity and trade.
A “milestone” pact on the strategic Chabahar port in southern Iran that will provide India access to Afghanistan and Europe by passing Pakistan was signed by India and Iran in May this year.

India’s biggest ever sale of spectrum

India’s biggest-ever sale of spectrum will begin amid an on-going battle between existing telecom firms and the new entrant Reliance Jio.
Seven operators are in fray for a total of over 2,300 MHz of airwaves across seven bands, worth Rs 5.66 lakh crore as per the reserve price fixed by the government.
Even as the government is optimistic about the auction, analysts have cautioned that it may not see a very strong demand.
The telecom firms are expected to fork out only about Rs.1 trillion (Rs.1 lakh crore) to buy spectrum at the auctions, according to research agency CRISIL. The last auction in 2015 had fetched the government Rs. 1.1 lakh crore.
For the first time, the 700 MHz spectrum — considered the most suitable for offering high speed broadband services — is also being put on of sale at a pan-India reserve price of about Rs.11,500 crore per MHz.